Deep as the Sea
by rgm0005
Summary: 'And I've removed the filter from your eyes which covered them before, so now, you'll easily distinguish between gods and men.' After the power of the Mist began to weaken, the demigods found themselves in the middle of a whole new world.
1. Prologue

**Deep as the Sea**

**Prologue**

"Who the hell are these guys?" Percy snarled, losing his temper as he forced the creature's face away from his own. Increasing the force of his grip, he crushed the bones of its ugly face with his gloved hand.

He'd learn quickly to wear gloves and to cover as much skin as possible. There was something in their saliva that messed with his head and made it really hard to fight. Annabeth said it was a narcotic of some kind.

He just knew it was really annoying, even if it stopped affecting him while he was in water. More importantly, it was really dangerous to anyone who wasn't immune to poison when wet, which was most people.

Also, they were just disgusting—black, slimy bat-like creatures with giant fangs and disgustingly long tongues that slobbered everywhere—and he frankly didn't really want to touch them.

He stabbed Riptide deep into the belly of another creature as it foolishly approached, before kicking it away. They apparently feed on blood, which, considering the bat thing and the fact that they hated sunlight—something they'd learnt explosively while trying to transport a prisoner—made Percy think they might have been vampires or something, but if you slit open their bellies, they were basically powerless. If you just left them, they'd die before too long.

He shifted his glare to another creature that hissed at him. He lifted a blade and almost made to move towards him, but stopped midstride as its belly was cut open by something invisible.

Specifically, someone.

He smiled in gratitude, but said nothing. The vampires, if that's really what they were, still had no idea what was cutting them open; he wasn't going to tell them that he had a partner.

He felt Annabeth brush past him, silently assuring him that she was still there, watching his back.

It hadn't been long since the Battle of Manhattan—Summer hadn't even ended yet. But for some reason, about a million monsters had decided they wanted them dead after the battle or something and had started coming after them all the time.

All the campers had pretty much been ordered to stay at the camp for the time being.

Or rather, _he'd_ ordered them all to stay at the camp.

After the war was over, he'd basically become the official leader whenever things got bad. He'd told the campers to stay under the protection of the Camp and had sent several groups out to try and figure out what was going on.

Mainly him and Annabeth, plus Thalia and the Hunters, however, as the camp was still recovering from the battle. There had been a loud debate on whether it was better from him to stay behind to protect the camp or to leave and fight outside it, but Annabeth and Chiron had convinced everyone that letting him fight was for the best. Percy was grateful towards the both of them for that, of course; he'd have gone insane if he'd had to stay behind while something was going on.

Unfortunately, the Gods were being quiet and unhelpful, and even Mr. D had been draw away from the camp.

Worryingly, that even included his father. It may have sounded a bit spoiled, but his dad _always_ had time for him. If even he was being quiet, it meant something serious was going on—and that it coincided with these sudden attacks couldn't be a coincidence.

Even worse, Percy just didn't have time to worry about it. He had to worry about his camp, first, until he was able to contact his father and find out what was wrong on his side.

But maybe he could get somewhere today.

He'd learned that the…vampires were being sent by someone, a superior, and presumably another vampire. The grunts didn't know anything about what was going on or why, except that they were supposed to attack them. The leader would probably know more.

So they'd make the leader tell them. That was the idea, at least, but it required they _find_ the leader first…He, she, it—_whatever_—kept changing location from day to day.

Still, they'd had to kill something like a dozen vampires today alone. The amount of monsters being sent after them was increasing by a lot—they were probably getting closer.

It was less than an hour until dawn—if they could figure out where they were coming from, there probably wouldn't be enough time for him to move before dawn.

Percy swung his sword, decapitating the last of the vampires, whose corpse feel to the ground with a dull thud. He looked at it once and looked away—it wasn't the first time he'd killed a monster by any means; it wasn't even if the first three hundred—but they usually collapsed into dust.

For some reason, these things didn't. At least, not until they were touched by sunlight, and even that was mainly burning.

Still, at least that meant he wouldn't have to clean things up. He didn't like them while they were alive, much less chopped into pieces.

Speaking of sunlight…

He approached one of the vampires whose belly he'd split, glancing up at the sky obviously as he did so.

"It's probably not long until the sun comes up, guys." He said, stopping just out of reach of one. "I'm guessing you'd like to be somewhere else before that happens, huh?"

He received a number of weak noises in response.

"Well…I suppose I could move you guys inside." He continued his practiced speech. "But if I help _you_ out…you've gotta help _me_ out, okay?"

"W-what…" The one at his feet tried to ask something. This wasn't the first time he'd given this speech, so he was aware of what he was trying to ask.

"I'll let you live…but the one who sent you here dies. And I want you to tell me where they are."

A chorus of furious—but still pathetic—sounds was his response, as it had been the night before. And the night before _that_, actually.

He shrugged easily, turning away.

"Oh well. It's not like I'm the one who minds the sun."

"H-he'll kill…us…" The one by his feet said.

"That's only an issue if you're alive for him to kill." Percy pointed out. "And if he's alive to kill you. Which won't be an issue, once I catch up with him."

It was hard to make out emotion in the monster's pitch-black eyes, but Percy thought he was considering it.

Finally, he nodded once. Percy grabbed its leg and began pulling him towards the empty building he and Annabeth had been staying in and would now be abandoning, dragging him through the blood that had fallen out of him.

He couldn't really say he was surprised when the vampire's long pink tongue lashed out towards the blood, lapping at it quickly as if he was dying of thirst—which he probably was.

He wasn't surprised when, after he dragged him completely through the blood puddle, the vampire seemed to have recovered immensely.

And he was flat-out expecting it when he attacked him.

He stepped easily out of the way of the punch, grabbed it, and pulled his opponent into his own punch, knocking him several steps back. Before it could recover, its head left it's shoulders, tumbling to the ground. A moment later, it was joined by the rest of his body.

He looked down at it for a silent moment, before sighing and shaking his head. Stepping over it, he approached the next of the fallen vampires.

"I hope you're not as stupid as your friend over there." He said, as the vampire looked up at him in blatant fear.

It shook its head quickly.

"Good," He said. "Then let's try this again."

Reaching down, he grabbed its leg, and began to pull it through the blood he'd spilt.

He was going to find whoever was trying to kill him and get some answers. Tonight.

No matter how many of these grunts he had to go through.

**XxXXxX**

As he'd promised, he'd let the monster go after it had given him what he'd needed. Even if that meant there was still another of its kind out there, that was fine—horror stories can't be born without someone to tell them. If he let a few opponents go, at some point, they'd tell others, who'd tell others and, hopefully, at some point that would form an image that could protect the camp as well as any shield.

It had been Clarisse's idea and it was a good one. Maybe it was because they were all working for the same person, but already hesitation had appeared in the people that had been sent after him. If that image continued to grow, then perhaps it could become something that could keep the Camp safe.

And, after all, it was only fair, since the vampire had given him the information he'd needed.

Still…

"…Is this the place?" Percy wondered, uncertain.

"For someone who's eluded us for days, he's not very subtle, is he?" Annabeth said, sounding embarrassed.

It was a manor. Just by looking at it, you could tell that it wasn't a place fitting for a temporary residence or hiding place—rather, this place was more likely to be the enemy headquarters.

Given they were hunting a vampire, it seemed like a pretty obvious place—looking at it, Percy was having flashbacks of Dracula movies.

To call it impractical would be slightly misleading. There were guards positioned strategically, as well as lights and cameras around the walls. It was obvious that breaking into it quietly would be…difficult at best.

Annabeth put on her baseball cap and became invisible. It would be a lie if Percy said he had any idea what she did after that, but he presumed she'd slipped inside or something. It was already daylight and time wasn't an issue, so he simply waited outside. It was more than an hour before the guards shifted—or tried to, at least.

The guards outside went inside, but they didn't come back out. No new guards came out either, which was probably a good sign. Five minutes later, the front door swung open, apparently of its own accord.

Percy stood, stretched briefly, and walked in. If there had been any defenses protecting the lawn, they didn't activate. Nor did anything else, really.

But then, he hadn't expected them to. If any defenses had existed, Annabeth would have disabled them before signaling him to enter.

As he strode through the door, he couldn't help but think that it was a really nice house. Polished wood, cabinets of silverware, grandfather clocks, and ornate chandeliers. Despite being obviously high-class, there wasn't anything that seemed unusual.

Which was itself unusual, because he knew something supernatural was in here somewhere.

Still, the fact that it _looked_ normal said a lot. Unless this place was stolen—something that would draw a lot of attention, because presumably anyone that could afford this place would be missed by _someone_—then for it to look this normal would require it be set up that way. Presumably by someone who had some experience in that sort of thing.

But just because he hadn't noticed anything strange didn't mean there _wasn't_ anything. If it _was_ fake, then by definition _something_ was hidden.

"This place…" He murmured when he felt Annabeth brush against him reassuringly.

He didn't have to say anything else.

"The refrigerators are empty." She whispered back, her breath against his ear. "So are the cabinets. The silverware is unused. There's a dishwasher and dishes, but no detergent."

If this home belonged to a human, then logically there should have been something to eat in here, somewhere—or, at the very least, signs that there _had_ been food, at some point.

By itself, it wasn't enough to say anything for certain, of course—he could eat out a lot or something—but since they had already tracked something here that fed on human blood, it was enough for him to act on.

He looked around quickly, wondering where to being a search for a blood-sucking monster, when he felt Annabeth tug him towards a door.

He glanced at it once, before looking at the place he assumed Annabeth was inquisitively.

"The door to the basement is locked," She said. "From the inside. And none of the guards had keys that could open it."

Good enough for him.

The manor wasn't very subtle, nor were the guards, which implied that the same was true of the master of both.

Percy wasn't very subtle, either, so that was fine by him.

"I'll go first. I'd feel bad if I made you do all the work." He said, smiling. The expression faded as quickly as it'd appeared, fading into a mask of seriousness. "Give me ten seconds. Follow if nothing happens—otherwise, wait until I signal that it's safe."

For a moment, there was no response, before suddenly her breath was by his ear again.

"Be careful down there Seaweed Brain." She said. "We still don't know what we might find."

"If I knew how to be careful, I wouldn't have done anything I did in my entire life," He said, winking at her. "If you suddenly ask me to do something new, I'll just confuse myself. Let's just stick with what I know—I'll get in trouble and you bail me out, okay?"

Without even waiting for a reply, he leaned back and kicked the door open.

**XxXXxX**

What he found in the basement wasn't what he had expected.

Though, that would raise the question of what exactly he _was_ expecting. Maybe the stereotypical coffin filled basement of a vampire's castle? He wasn't sure.

But whatever he'd anticipated, it wasn't a bunch of prepared, awake vampires and a line of four guards pointing machineguns at him. Behind the two groups stood a well dressed man in an expensive suit, who looked human, but showed no reaction to the line of monsters right in front of him.

"…Huh." Percy said awkwardly, suddenly really glad he'd made Annabeth wait outside.

As one, the gunman began to fire. Percy quickly shut the door to keep any shots or ricochets from escaping to the floor above and potentially injuring Annabeth. He pressed his back against it, both to keep it closed and to protect himself, closing his eyes and crossing his arms in front of his face, more out of instinct than anything else.

It was…strange, being at the center of a storm of bullets. Due to his invulnerability, he wasn't hurt by any of them, but it wasn't as if he couldn't feel them. But the strange thing was that when, one by one, the bullets slammed into his skin at high speed, he felt each one, felt their shape as it warped and flattened on contact with his skin, as they bounced off, as they shredded his cloths and he heard them as they drowned out all other noise with the sound of hundreds of gunshots, and yet…

Neither hurt. It was strange, listening to sound through invulnerable eardrums and feeling blows through impenetrable skin.

And then, it was over. The wave of firepower had lasted only a minute before their guns were empty and they had to reload. Smoke and dust filled the air, but Percy was a demigod—even if he couldn't see them, it didn't really matter.

And it went without saying that he had no intention of standing idly by, letting himself get shot at.

He burnt through the smoke in an instant, lashing out at one of the guard's guns with Riptide as he passed by—even if the blade wouldn't harm mortals, it could cut through steel effortlessly. In the same instant, he grabbed another gun with his free hand, taking it by its barrel and ripping it from the man's hands. In a smooth arc, he brought it up to catch it's former owner hard in the face, knocking him both from his feet and the realm of the conscious, before swinging it to catch the one who's gun he'd destroyed on the back of the head.

Planting Riptide in the stone floor, he dropped the gun he held in his left hand. It was decent as a weapon in that it was hard and he could hit people with it, but he had better options.

The two remaining guards finished reloading even as they turned towards him—he'd knocked out the two in the middle, leaving the two on the outside.

He grabbed the barrels of both guns before they could even start firing, pulling both gunners closer to him, before twisting the one on the left out of its owners grip as it slackened in surprise. He pistol-whipped him, even as the other guard, who either had better training or was just harder to surprise, began to fire into his invulnerable chest as Percy twisted towards him, bringing the gun down with a crack on the top of his head, before yanking the gun from his grasp as well.

Twirling the guns, he switched his grip from the barrels to the handles, holding them as he'd seen in countless movies. He probably wasn't holding them the way he was supposed to and he'd never really used a gun before, but standing with one in each hand made him feel like an action hero.

He had floored all four gunners and begun firing before the first of the vampires even reached him.

He knew he wasn't good at archery and he probably wasn't good with guns, either. If it came to hitting specific targets accurately, the most he could really boast about was that he didn't hit the people on his side anymore.

But if it was just pointing and holding the trigger in a specific direction, he could do that. There was probably a better, more efficient way to use these guns, but this was fine for the moment. The bullets hammered into random places on the vampire's chest until he got used to the recoil and held them more steadily. He pretty much sprayed bullets randomly over the crowd of vampires until his guns clicked empty.

Even if he was a bad shot, it was okay if he just shot more bullets, he figured, and since all the vampires had come from basically the same direction, he'd hit pretty much all of them.

Besides, they were nothing but a way to make things a bit easier for him.

Still…

"I came here for two reasons," He declared proudly, a grin stealing across his face despite himself. "To kick ass and—"

A vampire burst through the smoke, claws outstretched towards his face. His body was full of a number of holes from his haphazard spray of bullets, but apparently he hadn't hit anything important enough to put the thing down.

Percy reacted in an instant. Their purpose accomplished, he dropped the guns and pulled Riptide out of the floor, raising it in a wide arc that took of the monster's head.

"Okay, I'll just be quiet."

He could have stayed back and waited for them to come to him—but Percy had never been much of a defensive fighter. He met the next vampire's charge with his own, sidestepping at the last moment, bringing his sword down in an arc to end its life even as he continued his advance. Stepping to the next in line, he then brought his blade up, sliding it smoothly into its gut, before leaning back to avoid it's snap at his face, raising a leg to kick it hard in the chest, sliding it of his blade and tossing it into the vampire behind it.

Percy continued his advance, stepping around the tangle of limbs he'd reduced the two vampires to, while a third one approached from the side. Grasping Riptide in both hands, he swung his blade, starting low—the Celestial Bronze sword carved smoothly through both the vampires on the ground before lifting in a shining arc to cut the third vampire from cheekbone to temple.

Only two more vampires remained, plus the strange man in the back, and he quickly stepped into their personal space. Having apparently realized how dangerous he was, but also realizing that the only way out of the room was through the door behind him, they glanced at each other once and moved in unison. Showing a bit more strategy than their predecessors, they attempted to attack simultaneously from different directions, intending to distract him enough to dash past, hoping to make it to the stairs.

The one on the right ended up with a sword to face for his trouble—entering under his chin and exiting out of the top of his head. The one on the left was stopped as Percy grabbed his face with his free hand, fingers digging deep into its skin to gain traction on its slimy skin.

Tearing his blade roughly from the right vampire's head, he swung it under his left arm, decapitating his captive. The body immediately fell to the floor, but he kept a hold of the head. Its jaw had slid open, slackening in death; he turn his hand over, causing gravity to close it, before tossing it to the feet of the out-of-place man.

Standing only a few feet away, a group of dead vampires and defeat guards behind him, his skin untouched by the battle, Percy looked at the man he'd decided was the leader, acting like it wasn't even a thing.

As he stepped towards him, the man backed away at his advance.

"You're the one that's been sending monsters after us? What's in this for you? Is there anyone else involved?"" He asked as kept walking. In moments, the leader had his back to the wall and nowhere to go.

Even so, he didn't say anything. Percy watched him for a moment, considering something.

Then, he stabbed him in the foot.

The man let out a cry of pain, confirming Percy's suspicion.

"As I thought, you're not human." Percy said, withdrawing his blade. "What are you then?"

The man still refused to say anything, though he now glared at him furiously.

Pursing his lips, Percy stared at him, not really surprised. He hadn't expected it would be easy to get answers.

But…

"I don't have anywhere to be," He said. "And the only way you're getting out of here is through me—and you aren't getting passed me unless I get some answers. Make this easy on yourself and save us both some time."

The man sneered at him.

"Do you expect me to believe you'll actually let me live?"

"I suppose that depends on what, exactly, you tell me, doesn't it? I certainly won't let you go if you say nothing." Percy replied, taking another step forward. "But yeah, if you answer my questions—and tell me _everything I want to know—_I'll let you go, on the condition that you stop sending people after us. If anything happens, I'll come back for another visit and you'll die."

He didn't bother rising or lowering his voice—he just stated the facts. He wasn't really confident about his acting skills, so he didn't try to be intimidating, but he'd follow through on any threats he made, if it came to that.

Truthfully, he'd planned to kill this guy without saying a word, but he'd already noticed something that stayed his hand.

"Let's start with the most important issue…" Percy began. "Who are you working for?"

This guy…Percy couldn't believe he was the leader. After the attacks began, they'd done some digging. The Hunters had spread out, hunting monsters but also reporting back what they found—and they'd reported strange monster attacks all across the nation. He and Annabeth had decided to start in the areas close to home, which had led them here, but…

There was no way this guy was behind everything. He didn't have enough defenses or soldiers or even 'variety.' These vampires weren't uncommon, but they were hardly the only thing that had appeared recently. He couldn't be behind everything—Percy doubted he was even behind all the vampire attacks, given how wide spread Thalia had reported they were.

In the end, all he'd found was another grunt.

The man's eyes shifted nervously.

"I can't," He said. "They'll kill me."

"Fine," Percy said. "Then _I'll_ kill you and try again with the next guy that shows up."

The man licked his lips once and nodded.

And then spit at him. It wasn't a normal amount, either, but a disgustingly large wad of it that Percy immediately recognized.

The man was a vampire, too.

Percy ducked quickly to the right, knowing better then to let it touch him—especially with his clothing torn to pieces by that hail of bullets.

And the man saw his chance. Dashing forward as Percy dodged, he ran as fast as he could towards the door—he'd go through it, if he need to. Even if it was daylight, he had ways to escape; a specially prepared van shielded against sunlight.

"—Death it is, then." Percy said, spinning on a dime, and grabbing the man by the arm and pulling, Riptide already raised to send another monster to its grave.

But all he pulled away was a disgusting sheet of flesh that slid straight off the man, revealing the bat-like monstrosity beneath. Percy's eyes widened in surprise before he threw it to the ground with a snarl and lunged after him.

And then the man stopped sudden. Percy grabbed him, pulling him roughly, before he stopped too.

The 'man's' belly had been cut open. Percy released him, letting him drop to the floor.

"—What happened to waiting until I gave the signal?" Percy asked.

"You took too long," Annabeth said, tacking off her cap. "It's not nice to keep a girl waiting."

'_I got worried,'_ Percy knew she meant.

"Besides," Annabeth continued, smiling teasingly. "It looks like this could use a woman's touch."

Percy glanced at the whimpering vampire at his feet.

"By all means," He said, stepping back.

**XxXXxX**

"The Red Court, huh…" Percy murmured.

"It's interesting, isn't it?" Annabeth said, a familiar gleam in her eyes. "The Red Court of Vampires. Seems to imply that vampires aren't completely united. Maybe it's a political faction? It could even be an extremist group?"

"I was mainly thinking it was weird." Percy said, lifting his voice. "Monsters forming their own organization? And us not knowing about it until now?"

"It's not that weird," Annabeth disagreed. "They didn't seem to know about us until recently. And I can even guess when."

"The Battle of Manhattan." Percy agreed more than said. "Yeah, I guess it's not surprising that we drew some attention then. But still…they're monsters. We _hunt_ monsters. How have we never even run across them before? There are so many of them; you'd figure someone have seen them before at some point."

Annabeth opened her mouth for a moment before snapping it shut with a click and shaking her head.

"I'd say the only way would be if we were somehow avoiding each other," She said. "But that would require we _know_ about each other."

Percy pursed his lips for a minute.

"There's still too much we don't know." He decided. "And we aren't figuring out what it is quickly enough. If something's going on, we might already be on a time limit."

He debated with himself for a minute before sighing.

"We need to widen our search. And…we need someone more persuasive." He decided. "Annabeth, call Drew."

Annabeth looked annoyed at the thought.

"Why don't _you_ call Drew?" She replied.

"She's the new Counselor of the Aphrodite Cabin—she may as well get to work." He continued, dodging the question. "If nothing else, her Charmspeak will be helpful—and I'm sure the Aphrodite Cabin will be happy to be free of her for awhile. Call Clarisse and the Ares Cabin, too; I know they've been eager to join the search."

Annabeth actually sputtered at that.

"Clarisse and _Drew_?" She said, looking at him like he'd lost his mind. "Are you insane? Clarisse will _kill_ her if she says anything about Silena. Are you sure that's a good idea."

"No," He admitted. "But if we took her with us, _I'd_ have kill her if she said anything about Silena—I was there when she died and I was Beckendorf's best friend, besides. But Drew doesn't have much skill in a fight—if she meets someone she can't Charmspeak, she'll be in danger, and even if I dislike her, she doesn't deserve to die; hopefully, she'll be smart enough to keep quiet around Clarisse. Besides, going on a quest might be good for her; we were all brats at one point or another, before we had to grow up a bit."

Percy shrugged.

"And who knows? Maybe they'll become friends."

Annabeth raised an eyebrow at that.

"You think so?"

"Not really, but I didn't think Clarisse and Silena would become friends, either." He said, shrugging again. "Call Grover and the Satyrs, too, and have them look around—the Nymph's, too, if you can. Even if these guys _have_ been avoiding us, I doubt they knew to avoid every plant in the city. Tell them to see if the nature spirits know anything. Send them along with the Ares Cabin, too."

Annabeth nodded easily at that, though she seemed a bit worried about deploying so many people at once with the situation still so uncertain.

"And what are you going to do?"

Standing, Percy rubbed the bridge of his nose.

"I'll go call Nico." He said. "If all else fails, I'm sure these guys have killed people before—and I'm sure at least one of them knows something. It may take awhile, but I bet Nico can find out what we need."

Annabeth nodded and left the room without a word to go make her calls. Percy watched her go, somewhat thankful for the privacy.

The relationship between him and Nico was…strange. After his sister had died, he'd felt responsible for him, even if Nico had hated him at first. They'd worked things out eventually and he'd eventually started to think of Nico as a little brother.

An incredibly annoying little brother that he loved anyway.

Nico was a _professional_ when it came to annoying him. In the first week he'd known the kid, he'd wanted to kill the kid he was so annoying. And when he'd had to chase him all over to keep him from doing something stupid. And when he'd nearly gotten him killed in the Underworld—despite how ironic that was in hindsight.

He always forgave Nico in the end—which was part of the reason he thought their relationship was kind of brotherly—but that didn't change the fact that spending time with Nico was frequently a trying experience. Clarisse and Luke had proved that childhood enemies could become friends and that childhood friends could become enemies—but little brothers are annoying forever.

Still, the kid was _good_ at what he did.

Percy sighed one last time before going to call the Ghost King.

**XxXXxX**

Their information network spread quickly—and the amount of things they found out was already giving him a headache.

Grover and the Satyrs had learned a stunning amount of information from the plants of New York City—especially in the Parks. They were still in the process of organizing everything they found, but between Central, Prospect, and Flushing-Meadows Corona Park, plus the Bronx, they'd solved a staggering number of crimes. In the end, Annabeth had had to connect them to her half-brother, who was the current New York City Police Commissioner, and have them funnel everything to him, because they just couldn't handle all of it themselves.

There were also a number of strange things that, honestly, Percy wasn't sure what meant, if anything. They were definitely supernatural, but there were _so many_…

How had they not noticed anything? There were so many cases of supernatural activity, some of which dating back an extraordinary amount of time, and they'd had no idea…

He couldn't believe that this many monsters had escaped their notice in their own city. No, literally—he couldn't believe that such a thing was possible unless something had actually hidden them.

Something was going on. Something was keeping them out of the know and he didn't like it at all.

There were too many things going on for them to possibly do everything themselves. The sheer stunning amount of cases—and more importantly, the fact that they weren't organized at all. The nature spirits had recounted everything they remembered, so they had all the information, but if they wanted to get anything useful out of it, they were going to have to put it together.

Percy didn't want to, so he pulled ranked and dumped it on the Athena Cabin. Even so, it was going to take a lot of time for them to get anything out of it. They'd seen enough to write books, but just identifying the characteristics of all the creatures would take days or week, and that was being optimistic.

Trying to figure out the exact time and place of everything that had happened, much less trying to puzzle out the motivations behind all the attacks…

Percy kind of felt bad for them, but he was mainly just happy that he didn't have to do it.

Drew had proven herself as useful as he'd hoped, charming out information where their threats had failed. The downside was that the target needed to know something for her to get it out of them—and, at the moment, the only vampires left in the city were the grunts that had been lucky enough to avoid him and Annabeth. Sadly, that probably didn't include anyone important, so classified or hidden information wasn't forth coming.

While that was sad, it would be corrected the next time they got their hands on someone in a leadership position—and the upside more than made up for it besides. For while the vampires Drew had interrogated hadn't known anything secret, they had mentioned a great deal of things that were apparently widely known to everyone but them. Drew and the Ares Cabin were writing down what they'd learned in reports, but even the small things they'd shared through an Iris Message had been helpful.

In addition, Drew and Clarisse seemed to be getting along, if not well, then at least without killing each other.

But as he'd expected, Nico was the biggest source of information. It wasn't uncommon for monsters and bad guys in general to prescribe to the theory that dead men tell no tails—which was failing miserably in this case. Nico had somehow made a list of all the people who had died of unnatural causes and it was a long, long list. He was in the process of tracking down and questioning the people on the list, which was sure to be a long process, but it was the best source of information they had.

Not all the strange deaths in New York were monster related, though, and again, information was funneled to Annabeth's brother—Percy was pretty sure this was going to do some pretty amazing things for his record, which wasn't bad to begin with. Annabeth had said her brother was considering running for Mayor after his term was over.

Nico had a group of ghosts organizing the information, which he'd promised to send to the Athena Cabin after it was done.

Everything was going nicely. Percy hadn't realized how good the Camp would be at gathering information before today—mainly because he'd never thought about it before. But as long as things stayed the way they were, he thought it'd be okay; once he knew what the problem was, he could try to solve it, instead of swinging blindly in the dark and hoping to hit something.

However, until everything was finished—or at least until the next group of monsters showed up and tried to start something—there wasn't much he could do but wait.

So wait he did.

And like that, summer wound to an end.

**XxXXxX**


	2. Chapter 1: Feet in the Water

**Deep as the Sea**

**Feet in the Water**

It took all of Fall to organize everything, which passed easily for Percy and Annabeth. While the other's worked to discern facts from a huge amount of information from a variety of sources, put it together, weed out the falsities and rumors, and figure out what was missing, they had the relatively simple task of kicking the ass of anyone that tried to start something.

After they destroyed the Red Courts original outpost, following attempts to gain a foothold were much more cautious and subtle, but it was hard to simultaneously avoid the eyes of everyone on scout duty and hide from every plant in the city. If they killed anyone, Nico knew and sent up warning bells and Percy kept an eye on the rivers, just in case. Anyone who tried to enter was quickly caught and handed over to Drew.

While things had come to a relative calm, Percy was still wary about letting everyone go, because spreading them all around the nation where they were all far from any help seemed like an hilariously bad idea. It had taken some work on the Camps part, along with the help of a number of part campers, but they'd managed to enroll most of the camper into schools in the New York City area in time for school to start. Now that the camp had started expanding and new Cabin's were being built for the minor gods and goddesses, there was even talk taking things even further and just building a school on camp property.

Whether or not that talk would come to anything, Percy didn't know. He left issues like that in the capable hands of Chiron and the graduated Campers, who knew how to do things like build a school. His job was to keep the entire camp safe and that's what he did—though he thought the idea of a school for Halfbloods was kind of awesome; if there was something like that, maybe he wouldn't have been kicked out of school a dozen times.

Maybe if a school was actually built, they could go even further. The Camp was a haven for Halfbloods, but most only stayed there for a time—in the summers and only until they graduated. The Cabin's were great and all, but they were hardly a place for adults to live in, much less families.

If they could…

But he was getting ahead of himself, Percy though, shaking his head to draw himself back to the present. Even the school was still just an idea and nothing said it would even go anywhere. He should focus on the matter at hand.

Taking a moment to decide what he was going to say, he walked into the Big House.

As usual, the Rec Room was full and the arguments were long since underway. This was the official meeting place of the Camp Counselors—the leaders of each Cabin. In his first four years at Camp, there had never been more than eleven Counselors, even if one counted the leader of Artemis' Hunters.

Now, there were over twenty, counting the leaders of all the new Cabins. Even Thalia was present as the leader of the Hunters.

Only two gods shown for their absence: Hera, who still had no children to represent her and whose Cabin was still just honorary, and Zeus. Thalia, now represented Artemis instead of her father, so the King of the Gods had an empty Cabin as well—though with the Oath no longer applying, it was anyone's guess how long that would last.

The Counselors never gathered unless there was something important—and this was the largest gathering in History. Normally, it was up to the Counselors to make decisions for their entire Cabin at these meetings, but in this case, Percy had called for a vote of the entire Camp with the Counselors serving as representatives—though some Cabins, like his own, had only one member.

Still, what they were about to decide would affect everyone for a long time to come and Percy didn't want anyone to not have at least a choice.

"Since when do we make deals with monsters?" Clarisse demanded.

"I don't think anyone here wants to, Clarisse," Annabeth said calmly. "However, you know better than anyone else how different things are now. With so many unknowns, we made can't let our emotions decide this."

Percy walked silent around the walls of the room, neither saying a word nor doing anything to draw attention.

This issue had been raging throughout the camp for weeks and he'd been careful not to say anything either for or against it. He was aware of how much influence he had around the camp—if he said he was for it, Clarisse and everyone else who opposed it would fall silent and go along with it—as would Annabeth and those like her if he said he was against it.

Well, maybe not Annabeth and Clarisse, but everyone that supported them would defer to his opinion, whatever it was.

But he couldn't decide this for them. He didn't _want_ to decide this for them. There were arguments to be made for or against it—and he had no idea what choice would be the right one in the long one. And even if he did, this was supposed to be a democracy—but could it be called a democracy when his word was law?

So…

Whatever the Camp decided, he would see done.

Seeing Nico in a shadowed corner, he quietly made his way towards him, before leaning against the wall to watch the proceedings. Nico glanced at him once, before doing the same—Percy silently wondered how he would vote.

"Has it been just Clarisse and Annabeth arguing or has anyone else gotten involved?" He asked.

"They're the figureheads of the different sides, yeah." Nico replied, understand what he was really asking.

Percy nodded. They'd been the leaders of the sides from the beginning—he'd just wondered if anyone else had voiced an opinion or raised a new one.

"Are you going to stop them?" Nico asked.

"I'll give it a few minutes," Percy said, shrugging. "Not everyone's here yet."

Annabeth and Clarisse both had good points, but after several weeks of this, everyone had heard them already. Percy suspected they were arguing just for show and part of him wondered if these were their actual opinions or just the opinions of their Cabin's.

"You've heard what Nico's reported!" Clarisse snarled, slapping a hand down on the table. "The amount of people they've killed in New York alone…!"

Annabeth's eyes hardened.

"No one's proposing me make friends with them, Clarisse." She said sharply. "I don't like them any more then you do. I'm merely pointing out that were going to have a hard time protecting people if we're all _dead_."

"I'd rather be dead then submit to monsters! You're telling me we should beg them to impose their rules on us?"

"Beg?" Annabeth repeated. "Hardly. We'll find a way to meet them as equals and negotiate."

"And what would we gain by doing that? How will being bond by rules and regulations that were made by monsters help us protect people?"

"If the rules get in the way of that," Annabeth said. "They will be broken."

A smile that was gone as quickly as it came reminded him that those two were really close friends, despite how much they argued.

"Then why bother with the rules at all? There's no punishment for breaking them as long as they don't apply to us—joining does nothing but invite punishment."

"But if by joining, we can prevent a war—or have the war on our terms—then it's worth it," Annabeth argued. "As things are, there is no punishment no matter how many of them we kill—but the same is true if they decide to kill us. Yes, there will be restrictions and if we break them—or, at least, are _caught_ breaking them—there will be punishment. But they don't just apply to us—if we're both members, then they will be bound to obey those rules as well. Clarisse—if we fight like this, we'll be opposing an enemy of unknown power in a war with no rules or morals. Who's to say they won't strike at our parents? Or hurt innocent people? You don't understand—I hate this. I hate the mere _idea_ of this. A peace treaty with monsters that kill innocent people by the hundreds or thousands? It disgusts me. But if we fought like this…a lot of innocent people are going to be hurt. Even if we win…is killing them worth all the innocent people that could die? Could we even win in the first place?"

Annabeth shrugged.

"I don't know. It kills me, but I don't. But I don't want to risk it. Besides…you and I both know that this wouldn't exclude the possibility of war. Let's play a long for just a little while, Clarisse. And if there's a chance to crush them and protect innocents…do you doubt for a second that I wouldn't be right there with you on the frontline?"

Clarisse went silent at that.

Perhaps due to fate, chance, or good timing—but probably because he'd been listening at the door—Chiron walked in at that precise moment, keeping the argument from restarting.

Percy pushed off the wall and stood up straight.

"Well then," He said, raising his voice so everyone could hear. The eyes of everyone in the room swerved to him in an instant. "It looks like we're all here. Is everyone ready to vote?"

He received a number of sounds and gestures of agreement in response.

"There are an even number of Counselors gathered here today," He continued. "To prevent the possibility of a tie, the Poseidon Cabin will abstain. I promise, however, that whatever the Camp wishes, I will do everything in my power to fulfill."

It was nothing but an excuse and everyone knew it. If he voted, it would just cause trouble, as everyone would follow his lead. Even if he voted last, it would probably cause more trouble than it was worth; he wouldn't be surprised if someone called for another vote.

Everyone knew that—and so, knew why he abstained—and they accepted it silently as a sign that he was a leader, not a master.

Percy scanned the room with his eyes for a long silent moment.

"Then if nobody has any complaints, shall we vote? Will Camp Half-Blood try to join the Unseelie Accords?"

The Accords.

They were the main topic of conversation during the last few weeks and a topic of much speculation since long before that. They'd known for a long time that they'd existed—Drew had dragged it out of some vampire nobody. They'd even known, in general, what it was.

It was a series of agreements and treaties, like the Geneva and Hague Conventions, between various supernatural powers, including the vampires.

It had surprised everyone; monsters making agreements? Even he'd been surprised.

Ever since Drew had reported that, the entire Camp had wondered what the nature of those agreements were. They'd spent weeks making up ideas that ranged from bizarre to horrifying.

Was it a sort of pact against them? Had the monsters been getting ready to gang up on them this entire time with none the wiser?

If so, how many? It was an agreement, so there had to be more than one party involved, but who had the Red Court made a treaty with?

With the possibilities both dangerous and frightening, the search for information had temporarily shifted towards learning as much about the Accords as possible.

And what they found was just…weird.

It wasn't an alliance.

It's a code of conduct. It governs the behavior of signatories when they interact with each other, detailing the limits and terms of hospitality, promises of safety, the delivery of messages, the punishment of crimes, and even the terms of peace and war.

It's something that applied only to signatories, however, which made it dangerous. In order to benefit from it, one had to be a part of it—but being a part of the Accords had its own downsides.

The question was whether the pros outweighed the cons.

The Accords did not prevent wars—they merely set the terms for it. Even if they joined, it wouldn't mean they couldn't kill monsters—but if they did, they might have to do it in a certain way, while paying respect to the Accords.

By joining, they could establish their territory and if anyone attacked them or their families, they could legally punish them—one of the laws, perhaps the most appealing, was that if one party wronged another, the wronged party could challenge them to a duel.

If anyone attacked his campers or their families, it would be within his rights to find them and make them pay and his actions would be supported by the other signatories of the Accords. That alone was tempting—his presence served as something like a defense at the camp, but if they joined, then it would be a shield anywhere they went.

–Yes, he could admit that he was tempted.

But in the end, it always came back to the safe issue. They were monsters. Maybe not every member of the Accords, but the vast majority was made out of creatures that weren't very kind to innocent people. Some killed them indiscriminately—or worse—and joining the Accords, while giving them legal rights and protections amongst fellow members, meant those members would have those rights with them.

And the question at the root of the problem could not be ignored: If they joined, would that help or hinder their attempts to protect people.

Annabeth said she had a way to turn the rules to their advantage, however, and if she said it, it was probably true, but…

Well, that uncertainty was one of the reasons he had chosen not to vote, wasn't it?

Percy took his seat at the head of the Ping-Pong table and turned to Katie, the Counselor of Cabin Four, nodding at her respectfully.

A lot of people underestimated Demeter's children and it would be a lie to say he hadn't once been among them, but after the Battle of Manhattan, he'd learned something.

That was a mistake.

They were passive, but that didn't make them any less powerful—and their Counselor was the best example of that. In the Battle of Manhattan, they'd turned Fifth Avenue into a jungle and raised twisted walls of thorns and poison ivy that had kept an army of monsters at bay. Of the three daughters of Kronos, Demeter was the only one to have any demigod children—it was important to remember whose sister she was.

Katie glanced at Annabeth once.

"Demeter's Cabin believes that the Accords are worth it if they'll keep our families safe. Annabeth says she has a way to keep it from getting in the way of protecting people and I believe her. We're for peruse negotiations."

Nodding, he turned to Clarisse. Even if they didn't get along, everyone acknowledged the children of Ares as both devoted to their cause and as skilled in battle. He and Clarisse hadn't always gotten along, but after the quest for the Golden Fleece they'd come to terms—and in the years after, had even become good friends.

Besides, he could respect anyone who charged a Drakon without any armor and killed it.

He already knew how she was going to vote, though.

"No," Clarisse stated flatly. "The Ares Cabin votes against—why should we bother dealing with monsters? If they kill people, we kill them—how's that for a law?"

He glanced at Annabeth, who began speaking immediately. After the Battle of Manhattan, they'd become boyfriend and girlfriend, but he couldn't show any bias in this. However, the members of Cabin Six were the children of the Goddess of Wisdom and Battle—even if they didn't have any obvious supernatural powers, he knew better to underestimate their minds.

"I'm for pursuing the Accords," Annabeth said simply. "I think we stand to gain a great deal from this."

Percy felt a bit sad as he looked at Will Solace. The years had been hard on the Apollo Cabin. Lee Fletcher…Michael Yew…he'd lost two good friends in as many years. Still, they managed to keep on—and no one could deny that they were dangerous warriors. Whether they're shooting arrows or playing basketball, he'd never seen one of them miss a shot. A part of him wondered how long it'd be before one of them picked up a gun, now that they were fighting opponents that could be harmed by mortal weaponry.

"We're for the Accords," Will said. "The Apollo Cabin considers at least trying to negotiate to be worth the effort."

Percy nodded acceptingly at that. He'd expected that, too—as strong as they were as warriors, Cabin Seven was also responsible for healing the wounded. When someone was near death, it would fall on them to bring them back from the brink—or try too. A part of him wondered how many had died anyway, but he didn't want to know.

He was sure the Apollo Cabin did, though.

Turning to Thalia, he flashed her a quick smile. It had been awhile since they'd gotten a chance to see each other and he missed his friend.

"And what do the Hunters think?" He asked.

While most were not technically demigods, the Hunters of Artemis were more than worthy of respect. Due to Artemis' blessing, they were stronger and faster than any normal mortal and even most demigods. Every time they're at Camp, a game of Capture the Flag is held.

They'd won the last fifty-six times.

When this meeting was over, he was gonna see about changing that—and the challenging gleam in Thalia's eyes said she knew what he had in mind.

"We can't approve of joining the Accords," Thalia said, her face instantly becoming professional. "Like the Ares Cabin, we've been out searching for information since the beginning, and I can't being to describe what we've seen them do. The Hunters vote against."

Whenever he looked at Jake Mason, it reminded him that Beckendorf was dead, which still hurt. From what Tyson had told him about whenever he worked with the Hephaestus Cabin, it was still hurting them, too. The greatest builders and craftsmen around, they could make anything—and when it came to battle, they made the camps weapons. However…since Beckendorf's death, the Cabin had been having some bad luck. On the bright side, their numbers had risen greatly since the war—after Manhattan, there had been only three of them left, but now they numbered about a dozen.

"The Hephaestus Cabin supports the Accords," Jake said. Percy could see the worry in his eyes and knew, one way or another, something was going to have to happen in Cabin 9. Maybe he should send Tyson over there a bit more often.

Drew spoke up immediate, not even waiting for him to turn to her.

"Aphrodite supports the Ares Cabin," She said, looking disinterested. She was standing behind Clarisse as a show of support—he would never understand how Ares and Aphrodite's kids got along while they were so different. A dark part of him wondered if Drew had used Charmspeak on her Cabin, but Annabeth caught his eye and shook her head.

He lifted an eye in surprise at that—so Aphrodite would rather fight monsters then negotiate? He couldn't help but be reminded of Silena.

Conner and Travis Stoll served as the Counselors of Hermes Cabin. Even now, it was the largest Cabin, even though only Hermes' actual kids remained.

"For!" They said at once, mischief in their eyes.

Naturally, the Hermes Cabin would be for negotiation—and for getting the better side the bargain. Percy wondered if Annabeth had told them what she had planned or if they had their own ideas.

The moment he looked at Pollux, he knew what his answer would be.

"I'm against joining the Accords," He said, speaking in singular for good reason. Castor had died, leaving him alone in the Cabin—and he had no love for monsters.

Once, that wound have been the end of things, with all the Olympians represented. Percy was happy to say that wasn't the case—now, every god had their own Cabin. Some were still under construction—and as more demigods were born, more would be made, but Hades, Iris, Hypnos, Nemesis, Nike, Hebe, Tyche, and Hecate were all represented.

"I know firsthand how many people they've killed," Nico said, rising from his seat. The Son of Hades wasn't someone you'd want to make an enemy—he held grudges like no one else and his powers were just plain creepy. "Hades sides against."

Leaving his seat as Percy nodded to the head of the Iris Cabin, Nico walked towards Percy.

"We need to talk," He whispered seriously.

Percy's gaze flicked towards him as Butch, the son of Iris, voted for the Accords. Skilled at arts and communication, the Iris Cabin naturally wanted to avoid war for as long as possible—though not because of lack of skill. In war, they serve well as messengers, a position that's more dangerous than one might suspect.

He gestured to Clovis, the Hypnos Counselor, and turned towards him.

"What about?" he asked seriously. One of Nico's faults was that he never reported _good_ news. Though, granted, when your job is to talk to murder victims, how much good news can you get?

"The Red Court is preparing their forces." His cousin said.

Which was a nice way of saying that people were dying to support those forces.

Percy fell silent for a moment, as Clovis voted for the Accords.

"So it's really true?" He wondered quietly.

"It certainly looks that way," Nico replied.

Sometime in October, they'd started hearing rumors. Apparently, somewhere up in Chicago, some guy had declared War on the Red Court—or something like that. One can only pay so much attention to rumors, after all.

But ever since, things had fallen strangely silent. Apparently the guy had been the official representative of the White Council, so his declaration might have resulted in an actual war, but for awhile now, the Red Court hadn't done anything major. It had seemed like either the rumors were fake or things would blow over, and yet…

Apparently not.

He looked at his Counselors. Nemesis and Nike voted against, naturally, as the former were the children of Vengence and the latter would never do anything they thought meant 'giving up.' Surprisingly, so did Hebe, but Tyche surprised him even more by voting _for_ it.

The Children of Victory were against it, but the Children of Fortune were for it…Percy wondered if that meant anything.

He wasn't a very introspective person, though, so he quickly stopped.

"What should we do?" Nico pressed.

"…For now, let's do nothing." Percy decided.

"What?" Nico blinked, surprised. "But if the White Council is making war on the Red Court—"

"I know. I want to destroy the Reds as well. But if we take a side in this war, we're putting our lives on the line—so before we start gambling, let's see if the White Council actually has a chance of winning, okay?" He asked, raising an eyebrow at his 'little brother.' Nico nodded after a moment. "And besides—all we know about the White Counsel is that they oppose the Reds. Who's to say we'd want to side with them at all?"

"Then we wait?"

"We wait," He said, nodding. "Do me a favor and keep me informed. If anything big happens, let me know immediately."

Nico nodded, sitting down on the armrest of his chair.

"The Hecate Cabin thinks it would be for the best if we join the Accords," Lou Ellen said, and Percy knew she was as interested as he was about the White Counsel. A faction of magic-users…it may have been mere curiosity that made her vote.

But it was the deciding vote.

Percy stood.

"Very well then," He said. "Camp Half-Blood shall try to join the Accords. I will lead the attempts to do so, as I promised—tomorrow, we will decide who we wish to attempt to approach. Meeting adjourned."

As the other's left, one by one, Percy hoped this was the right choice.

**XxXXxX**

"Well that was fun," Annabeth said, taking off her cap and suddenly appearing beside him.

He glanced at her, concerned.

"You okay?" He wondered.

She gestured dismissively.

"I'll be fine." She said, sighing. "So we're really going to do this."

Not many people knew it, but Annabeth didn't really want to join the Accords. A lot of the campers had been hunted by monsters and hurt by them and even lost friends and siblings to them—but not many of them had done so as much as Annabeth.

Unlike most, Annabeth had been chased by monsters since she was five years old. Percy distantly remembered a few things that had happened to him at that age, but he'd be fairly lucky, all things considered—he'd been kicked out of pretty much every school he went to for something or other, but things had never gotten so bad that he'd had to abandon his mom.

He hated Gabe—even now, years later. Honestly, he doubted he'd ever forgive the man for what he'd put his mother through—and he didn't feel an ounce of pity for the man's fate.

But he could at least admit that he was the only reason he'd been able to stay with his mother as long as he had.

But Annabeth…hadn't gotten along nearly as well with her step-mother, at the time. Or her father, really. Because of her, they'd been constantly attacked by monsters and they'd just had two new children.

So she ran away. Annabeth never really talked much about that time, but he knew that she'd fought monsters for several months before meeting up with Luke and Thalia—and that Thalia had 'died' before she'd joined the camp. For a long, this had been the only place she'd called home.

A number of people he'd known had died in the war. Silena, Beckendorf, Michael, Lee, Castor, and more. But Annabeth had been at this camp year round since she was seven years old.

He wondered how many of her friends had been killed by monsters. He also wondered how many had turned traitor. He'd probably beaten up some of the people she'd grown up with.

A part of him wanted to ask, but he knew that would be tactless.

So instead, he just put a hand on her shoulder.

"I'm hungry," He said. "Wanna go get something to eat?"

She shot him a look that made it obvious she knew he was trying to distract her, but didn't call him on it.

"You're always hungry, Seaweed Brain." She stated, even as she stood.

"So, what do you think will happen now?" He asked as they walked.

Annabeth shrugged.

"We'll decide who we want to try negotiating with and approach them." She said.

"But who do you think we'll approach?" He wondered.

"Isn't that for the camp to decide?" She complained, but answered. "No one's going to suggest the Reds. The other vampires are possibilities, but…well, I doubt they'll get voted for either. Even the Cabins that wanted to sign the Accords aren't fans of anthropophagi."

A fancy way of saying people-eater—Percy was somewhat surprised that he understood it, but realized after a moment that it was a Greek word.

"That's probably for the best," Percy admitted. "I'll try my best to get us on the Accords, but if I walk in to find them eating people, negotiations are gonna break down real fast."

However…that didn't leave them with a lot of options. Technically they could contact anyone on the Accords, but…well, they didn't exactly have a list—and even if they did, a lot of the members were fairly obscure. Their best bet would be to contact one of the larger factions, simply because they were a lot easier to contact.

There were six. Three Vampire Courts, two Fairy Courts, and a Council of Wizards.

"The Fairies are a possibility," Annabeth continued. "The Accords were made by one of them, supposedly, hence their name. In addition, if their penchant for making deals if true, then it should be possible—though if they're as good at making deals as the vampires say, we should be wary."

Percy nodded at that, having though the same.

"I already talked to Travis and Conner," He said. "They'll be coming along to help me make any deals."

"I did, too." Annabeth said. "I've been pouring over everything I could find on fairies at the libraries—I'll go over it with them, if needed."

He didn't bother asking if Annabeth would come with him, as well, and she didn't bother saying anything about it.

It was just the type of thing that went without saying.

"The Wizards…" Annabeth looked uncertain. "I'm not sure. If there really is a War with the Reds, I'm sure they'd support us in return for an alliance, but…"

"Nico said the Reds are mustering their forces for an attack."

Annabeth frowned at that, looking thoughtful.

"What'd you tell him?"

"That we should wait and see how things go." Percy said. "I don't want to join a losing battle."

Annabeth nodded approvingly.

"Good. It's probably best to wait. If the Council manages to hold their own, we'll approach them." Annabeth's expression shifted as if she wanted to grimace at what she was about to say. "Though from a strategic standpoint, it would best to wait even if they do well—we'd probably get a better deal if we waited until after they suffered a major defeat and then rode to their rescue."

Percy grimaced at that and saw why Annabeth wanted to.

It was strategic and logical and it was probably the best choice for the Camp, but…

In a war, it went without saying that a major defeat would mean heavy losses. Not just exploiting it, but _waiting_ for it…

The idea put a bad taste in his mouth, even if it _was_ logical.

But then, it was Annabeth's job to point out things he wouldn't consider.

"—Like I said, let's just see how things progress." He said quietly. "We'll decide how to approach them, later—that probably won't be necessary."

Annabeth nodded.

They walked the rest of the way in silence.


	3. Chapter 2: Foreign Shores

**Deep as the Sea**

**Foreign Shores**

It wasn't hard to convince everyone that sending an envoy to the vampires would be unwise. It was harder to convince them that openly siding with the White Council would also be unwise at this point in time—though it was also agreed that it wouldn't hurt if they helped them subtly. While sending soldiers to help them would be reckless, it was true that they had a great deal of information about the Red Courts movements. Percy eventually decided that it wouldn't hurt if they sent a warning to the White Council about some of the Red Courts recent activities, sending Conner and Travis as the messengers and ordering them not to say precisely who it was from, yet—and also not to steal anything or do anything mischievous.

If they ended up siding with the Council, he'd remember to take them both along with him on the first meeting to make it obvious that they'd been to ones to help them. That was also the reason he sent the two in person, rather than dropping an anonymous tip.

However…the fact remained that if they refused to openly contact the White Council and wanted nothing to do with the vampires, then they were only left with the Fairies.

Which, unfortunately, raised the issue of how to reach them.

Without a doubt, the Nevernever had been their biggest—and most unnerving—discovery. Not only had they missed hordes of monsters, wizards, and who knows what else—they had missed an entire _plane of existence_. What exact the Nevernever was, they weren't sure. What they did know was that it was the realm of the supernatural and that it was separate but connected to Earth. They knew—or had heard, at least—that it didn't always obey natural laws and that it was a fluid sort of place.

But most interesting of all, it was a place that could be travelled to and from. According to the vampires Drew had interrogated, opening gateways anywhere you wanted was something only magic users could do—but he'd also said they weren't the only ones able to crossover. Monsters could cross over the boundary in locations closely related to them, though it was difficult. It was how most monsters crossed over in the first place.

That had been very useful—profitable—information. However…it was a bit unnerving to learn that they were similar to monsters.

But not as unnerving as actually doing it.

Percy stood by the window of his Cabin. All the windows in the Poseidon Cabin faced the sea, even in the real world, but…

This was definitely not any sea on Earth.

Crossing over had been a strange experience—here in the Cabin dedicated to his father, it had been easy. _Too_ easy. It had like closing his eyes in one world and opening them in another—and now that he'd done it, it felt like he could slip between worlds at any moment.

Worse—a part of him didn't think that was such a bad thing. Half of him felt more at home in this world then his own, like he was a child coming home. It felt like he'd been a fish in the desert and had just found his way back to the sea. It was like that part of him had always been suffocating and now it could breathe again—like there was a discomfort and pain that had been there for so long that he didn't even notice any more, but now it was gone.

And yet…no matter how much this place felt like home to one half…the other half just didn't belong. He'd simply traded one discomfort for another.

Maybe that was just what it meant to be a demigod. He didn't fully belong in either world.

Still, if this was what the Nevernever was like, there could be a problem. He'd volunteered to be the first to try entering the Nevernever, to make sure it was safe. And as he stared out the window, he wasn't sure what to report back.

Safe…?

No. This place couldn't be called safe. Maybe other areas were, but the one the Poseidon Cabin led to one was dangerous. In this world, his Cabin stood proudly atop the waves of an endless ocean. The light reflecting off its surface gave it an illusion of peace and beauty, but Percy wasn't fooled. The ocean could be beautiful, but peaceful was never a word that could describe it.

Not mortal oceans and especially not this one.

They were in water, so Percy just _knew_—there were things moving beneath the surface. Giant creatures like squid or octopi, large enough to stretch miles in the deep, and flowing, monstrous serpents. Endless creatures that were like shrimp in comparison, living, breeding and devouring each other in the depths. Amorphous creatures that had no more shape then water itself, flowing together and splitting apart, and countless fish that had no place on earth. There were creatures the size of islands and as small as insects. Things that might have looked a bit like people or a bit like fish or a bit like nothing much at all. He could feel everything in the sea beneath him and knew one thing for sure—a mile of this ocean had more life in it then any city on Earth.

He could feel no bottom to it, nor any shores. It was deep enough to swallow worlds and vast enough to be without exit or end. An ocean that wrapped around the world…that belief probably stemmed from this place. It was bottomless, endless, and without pity or remorse—and it called out to him like it was a living being. Like a mother to a child.

Percy closed his eyes and let himself slide back between worlds.

"Ah!" Annabeth said behind him, sounding surprised. "That didn't take long—"

He ignored her, striding out of the Cabin. To him, the boundary between worlds was no more than a spider web in there—and he could still hear the world-ocean calling out to him from the other side like he was its wayward son.

And it would be a lie to say he didn't want to answer.

But all of that faded away to moment he stepped out of the Cabin, as if walls had risen up all around him. He tried to slide again, but he couldn't—it was like trying to step through a doorway that didn't exist.

"Percy?" Annabeth asked, sounding concerned. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," He assured her, already missing the sea. "I just wanted to see if I could do it out here, too."

"And?"

He shrugged.

"Nothing. What happened on this side?"

Annabeth blinked once, before narrowing her eyes suspiciously.

"You vanished and then reappeared a second later. That was pretty fast—did you see something on the other side?"

Yes, he thought.

"It was several minutes for me," He said instead. "Odd, but we expected it."

"Can we reach Faerie from here?"

The thought scared him. If it was just him, it might be okay—he was sure that he was as much a part of that sea as anything in the water, but even then he'd be wary of what lurked beneath the waves. But if he had to take someone else?

They'd be swallowed up by the waves themselves. More than even the Bermuda Triangle, he felt that place was truly a 'Sea of Monsters.' Even the ocean itself had seemed alive.

"No," He said. "We'll need to find some other way."

**XxXXxX**

After Percy confirmed that they could survive in the Nevernever, he hesitantly asked the other Counselors to check their own Cabins, to make sure they were 'secure.'

If they were anything like his Cabin, then they didn't need to worry about invaders from that side of things, but it also meant they wouldn't have much luck using them to get to Faerie. Indeed, they all quickly confirmed his suspicion that taking that route just wasn't gonna happen. The sheer amount of defenses around each of the Cabins made Percy wonder if they were natural at all, or if their parents had specifically placed the defenses there.

On the Brightside, it did mean that they had a new emergency escape plan. If things became bad enough in the mortal realm, they could all cross over in the sanctity of their Cabins—though going anywhere after that might be risky.

With their first plan to reach Faerie shot down, they attempted to pursue other routes. Percy lead the expedition—which seemed to be his given role at this point, as the one most likely to survive if something went wrong—and confirmed his suspicion.

'What belongs to the sea returns to the sea.'

He could crossover effortlessly as long as he was in the sea—something he tested by simply heading for the one nearby. However, no matter where shifted from, he always ended up in that place. Worse, unlike with his Cabin, when he crossed over in the sea, he ended up _in_ the sea, floating adrift in some random place. As they'd heard, distance in the Real World didn't correlate precisely with distance in the Nevernever. He had tried a number of places moving both down the beach and further from shore, and each time had ended up in some random place at the sea.

In the waters of the mortal realm, he had perfect bearings, and knew his exact location in terms of both longitude and latitude instinctively. In that strange world-ocean, his senses didn't work quite the same way—probably, he suspected, because longitude and latitude simply didn't, or even couldn't, apply to it—but he was still able to tell where he was instinctively, and where that was in relation to the other places he'd been, simply by 'comparing' the two places in his head and wondering how far apart they were.

From what the Red Court's agents had divulged, he assumed this was due to the way places in one world linked to 'similar' places in another. Which led to several questions, such as what would happen if he attempted to cross over at the _bottom_ of the ocean, or in the Mariana Trench, or in other extreme places in the ocean.

Probably something bad. If just crossing over in water took him to a Sea of Monsters, he didn't want to know where the deepest place in the ocean would take him. He should probably avoid the Bermuda Triangle, too.

However, despite how intriguing his discoveries may have been and what possibilities they may have raise, it quickly became obvious that his ability to enter the Nevernever wasn't going to help them get to Faerie.

"Maybe if we tried something besides the sea," Annabeth said, frowning thoughtfully. She'd apparently taken their so-far-failed attempts as a personal affront and challenge. "Maybe if you tried crossing over in _fresh_ water, as opposed to salt?"

Percy shrugged.

"It'd probably just take me somewhere associated with fresh water."

Annabeth snapped her fingers.

"Exactly! Maybe if you crossed over in a lake or river, you'd end up in a lake or river in Faerie."

"Or maybe somewhere a lot worse," He said, grimacing. "At least in the sea, I now know roughly where I'm going to end up—if a river could really take me _anywhere_…"

Annabeth hummed in agreement, waving a finger at him.

"Good point." She pursued her lips for a moment. "Then what if you tried crossing over in, say, a water park? If similar places are linked, that would probably take you somewhere positive."

She looked away, muttering to herself.

"But would it take you to Faerie…? What type of body of water would be associated with fairies…I know there are some; King Arthur had the Lady of the Lake…"

"Was she a fairy?" Percy asked. "Or something else?"

He received a vague gesture in reply.

"It depends on the source." She replied absently.

Deciding he should intervene before his girlfriend decided to ship him off to England to search for a mythical lake, Percy stood.

"For now, let's just assume that finding a way there through water will be troublesome at best and try something else instead. If we run out of options, you can tell me to go jump in a lake." He promised.

**XxXXxX**

For supposedly being the area in the Nevernever closest to Earth, they were having a surprisingly hard time reaching Faerie.

"Maybe the Demeter Cabin?" Annabeth suggested. "Their mother is the Goddess of Seasons—how can they not be associated with either Winter or Summer."

Percy shrugged.

"Maybe they are—but apparently their Cabin is a fortress on the other side. I have a hard time believing it can compare to an endless sea of monsters waiting to eat you, but Katie seems to think so."

"Has she figured out where else she can crossover?"

Percy nodded.

"The Forest worked, just like you thought, but…I don't think _our_ forest was the best choice for that. We've been playing war games in it since forever and it's already full of man-eating monsters on _this_ side."

Annabeth's eyes widened.

"Is Katie okay?"

"She's fine," Percy assured her. "I don't know what happened though—she crossed over, jumped back here, and told me she was going back to her Cabin."

Annabeth winced.

"I…should go apologize to her. I didn't think it would be that bad—we all have happy memories of the forest."

"Maybe _some_ happy memories," Percy said, shaking his head. "But we play Capture the Flag there and there's always a winner, but there's also always a loser, too. Any happy memories of people winning would be equally matched by the memories of the ones who got beat. Plus all the battles and competitions and desire to win—and then there's the fear from when you run across a hoard of giant ants or a hellhound or something. I'd imagine the fact that animals are constantly hunting and killing each other in it probably doesn't help."

Annabeth nodded reluctantly, raising a hand to her head and rubbing her temples.

"Are you okay?" He asked, concerned.

"No!" She snapped, glaring at him, before wincing again. "I'm sorry. But no, I'm not okay—this whole thing is giving me a headache. I can't believe we're stumped by something like this! Not by an enemy or a puzzle or something—we just can't even get through the damn door!"

Percy moved to sit next to her, covering one of her hands with his.

"Do you want to go get some sleep?" He suggested. "I can watch over our failed attempts for a while—let's give Katie a break, though."

She sighed, all but shrinking in on herself.

"Yeah," She replied to both. "Some sleep would probably do me some good. What are you going to do, though?"

Percy smiled at her.

"I figured I'd just throw myself at the problem again and again until the Universe realized it had no choice but to give in to my unreasonable demands or else watch me destroy myself."

Annabeth laughed at that, which made his smile widen.

"Good luck with that, Seaweed Brain." She said, winking as she left.

Percy watched her go in silence, his mind already on other things.

They were running out of options. Crossing over in random places in the hopes of striking gold wasn't working—it was a big, big world and apparently an even bigger Nevernever. It could take them forever to find a way there if they were restricted to places similar to them—and they didn't have time for that, with war potentially on the horizon.

If they wanted to get to Faerie, they were going to need to try something else. And he thought he might even know what.

Rising from his seat, he went to find Travis and Conner.

He had to go check if some things ran in the family.

**XxXXxX**

"Hey guys, can I have a minute?" He said, stopping them. They were both heading towards the Demeter Cabin, probably in twisted concern for Katie. They'd had a rivalry ever since they had redecorated the glass roof of the Demeter Cabin, but Conner and Travis were nice enough to want to make her feel better if she was down.

On the other hand, they were also the type to try and make her feel better by pulling pranks on her or something, so Percy didn't feel particularly bad about stopping them. As someone who got along well with both, he'd convey the sentiment to Katie later and warn her to be careful the next few days.

"But we were just—" Travis—different from his brother only in height—began, before stopping at either his brother's nudge or Percy's blank stare. "I mean…what do you need, boss?"

Percy took a step forward, leaning in. He wasn't really saying anything that needed to be a secret, but when dealing with Conner and Travis, the best way to get their attention was to make it seem like you're doing something you shouldn't—or, in this case, saying something you shouldn't.

Sure enough, they both leaned in, plans for Katie forgotten for the moment.

"I need you to do something for the camp." He began. Their faces became serious in an instant—fun-loving and mischievous as they might have been, he'd punch anyone who doubted their bravery or loyalty in the face. "You're probably aware by now that our attempts to reach Faerie are…well, let's be honest—failing miserably."

Both flashed identical crooked smiles and nodded.

"Well, I think you're the solution," Percy said. "Follow me."

Percy led them down to the woods, quickly finding a place that brought back a lot of memories for him—not many of them good.

It was a simple Creek that flowed through the forest, but it was the Creek where he'd broken Clarisse's spear in Capture the flag four years ago—and more importantly, it was a place where a prophecy had been fulfilled.

'_You will be betrayed by one who calls you a friend.'_

Percy wandered around the edge of the creek for a minute, trying to remember exactly where it had been, before spotting something that brought it all back with perfect clarity.

He took a few steps forward before stopping in his tracks.

"Travis, can you check something for me?" He asked, already knowing the answer. "Stand right there."

He pointed to a spot right across from him and Travis moved into position, frowning slightly.

"Here?" He asked.

"A few steps back…there, perfect. Do you feel like you can crossover, here?"

Travis stood silently for a few seconds before shaking his head.

"I got nothing. Why?"

"Four years ago, this is where Luke betrayed me," Percy said, staring at the ground. "He snapped his fingers and burnt this hole in the ground."

He gestured to the hole that had drawn his attention earlier.

"A Pit Scorpion crawled out and nearly killed me—but before that, Luke had stood where you're standing right now, slashed his sword, and disappeared. At the time, I chalked that up to Kronos—well, I did later, at least. At the time, I was preoccupied with the lethal scorpion. But now I wonder…"

Both twins frowned.

"You think Luke knew how to reach the Nevernever?" Conner asked. "How?"

Percy shrugged.

"Maybe Kronos told him? He probably would have known." He suggested. "I'm getting the feeling our parents knew, too."

Conner nodded at that.

"But what do you want us to do?" He asked.

"Luke did it, somehow." Percy said. "I want to see if you can too."

"I still can't feel anything," Travis said. "But I'll give it a shot."

He closed his eyes for several seconds and then opened them. He frowned when he saw Percy, but silently closed his eyes again. The process repeated several times, but they only thing that changed was how annoyed Travis was.

"Let me try," Conner butt in before Travis could snap. "Maybe you're not doing it right."

That was the wrong thing to say. Even Percy could see that.

"Excuse me?" Travis demaned.

Conner shrugged like it wasn't a big deal.

"I'm just saying maybe you should let me try. I mean, I did crossover first in the Cabin and all."

Travis' eyes widened before narrowing.

"Oh, no you did _not_." He said, each word coming out powerfully. "_I_ crossed over first."

"How would you know? You had your eyes closed!"

"So did you!"

Conner snorted.

"Whatever. Just move out of the way and I'll show you how it's done." He said, shoving his brother. He didn't even get a chance to close his eyes before his brother shoved him back, however.

"No, I think I felt something that last time," Travis said. "I've almost got it, so step back and get out of my way."

"Hey," Conner said, stepping closer to his brother. "I'm not trying to start a fight—but you had your chance. So why don't you just back off?"

He raised a hand to push Travis again, but his brother caught his arm. Both opened their mouths to say something, and Percy decided enough was enough.

"That's enough, both of you!" He said, taking a step forward to end their argument. "Let's just call it quits; it was nothing but a thought I had anyway—"

But his step faltered along with his voice as the two of them faded away like ghosts.

"—Guys?" He asked the empty air, eyes widening.

He barely had a chance to realize what had just happened when the two of them reappeared before him, flat on their asses. Both were sweating, when they hadn't been before.

"Holy shit—" Travis said, breathing hard. "Did you see that thing!?"

He sounded more excited than scared, however.

"See what?" Percy asked.

The two of them jumped at his voice, looking at him before relaxing.

Conner scrambled to his feet.

"Percy," He said, smiling. "We did it."

**XxXXxX**

After proving it was possible by the creek, Percy had them practice in the Poseidon Cabin, simply so he could switch between worlds and watch from both sides. He was a bit disappointed to find that it wasn't any different from watching them disappear in the real world, but crushed the feeling as thoughts occurred to him.

Hermes was the God of Messengers, Travelers, and Crossing Boundaries. If he thought about it like that, then it wasn't odd that their children could cross between worlds. There were still some problems that needed to be solved, however.

Now that they had a way to get someone there, where did they need to go to reach Faerie? Now that travel into it was possible, would they be able to navigate the Nevernever, entering and exiting in different places? Was there a way to see if their target location was safe or not without crossing over?

But, most importantly of all, were the Hermes Cabin the only ones able to crossover, or could they take others with them?

In the end, the fact still remained that they wanted to send a delegation into Faerie, preferably one led by him. The Hermes Cabin's loyalty and skill could not be denied, but he'd still feel a lot better if he could send others in with them, just in case something went wrong.

Also, Annabeth had said that, as their leader, not appearing in person could be considered insulting, but that was a strictly secondary issue.

"Okay, guys," He said, clapping his hands as they shifted back to the mortal realm. "I'm gonna need you guys to practice this a lot—it still looks like it's taking a lot of energy. Try and get to the point where you can do it easily if you're in danger or if you're alone. Start training your Cabin as well, once you think you've got it down."

Conner muttered something under his breath that Percy chose to take as an agreement.

"Also…" He continued. "Besides disappearing, Luke did something else—he opened a hole somewhere and that pit scorpion crawled out. I'm gonna need you guys to see if you can do anything like that."

"You want us to summon scorpions?" Travis asked, raising an eyebrow.

Percy rolled his eyes.

"No—I want you to open a hole," He said. "To the Nevernever."

The twins looked at each other, unsure.

"Can you do that?" Conner asked.

"Sure," Percy replied. "That's what wizards do."

Supposedly.

None of them had ever seen anyone do something like that, but there was no point in mentioning that.

"Besides, Luke must have summoned that scorpion from _somewhere_." Percy continued. "This isn't that different."

They both looked at him skeptically.

"Percy, we saw that hole—even if we can do the same thing, you're not going to fit through that. Unless we're going to send mice into the Nevernever, there's not much point to it."

"Well, naturally, it's supposed to be a _big_ hole. Big enough for people to pass through."

"And how are we supposed to do that, if we even can?" Conner asked. "If it was possible to get people through the Neverner that way, Luke could have led an army into the Camp, but he didn't."

Percy had no answer to that—it was a good point and one he'd already thought of. If Luke really _could_ use the Nevernever, why didn't he use it to his advantage more?

He had several possible explanations, but the truth was that he didn't know the answer.

"Maybe he didn't know the way in?" He suggested.

The twins snorted derisively.

"We're the son of the God of Travelers," Travis said. "If a path exists, we can find it. It's not that."

Percy raised an eyebrow, filling that away. If they weren't exaggerating…

"We know how dangerous the area around the camp is," Percy continued. "Maybe he just couldn't find a _safe_ way in? Or a practical way? Or maybe our parents put some defenses on the camp? Or maybe he just couldn't do it alone? It doesn't matter. Maybe you're right and it's not possible—that's fine; we'll find some other way. I'm not asking you for a miracle. I'm not even asking for you to succeed. I'm just asking you to try."

Percy shrugged awkwardly as they both stared at him.

They glanced at each other once and then nodded.

"Okay, boss; why not? We'll give it a shot." Travis said, nodding along with his brother.

"Thanks," Percy returned. "If you don't get any results, then I'll apologize for wasting your time."

Glancing outside, he noticed that it was already getting dark,

"But you're both probably exhausted. Why don't we call it quits for today and you can try tomorrow when you're rested. Let's get something to eat before it's too late." He said, standing to leave.

"…And what if we succeed, but can't make the gate big enough?" Conner asked.

Percy glanced at him and chuckled.

"If that's the only problem, then don't worry about it—you have my permission to dedicate the entire Hermes Cabin to this goal, if you feel it's needed."

**XxXXxX**

Percy yawned as Annabeth sat down beside him at the dining pavilion. Technically, each Cabin had its own table and campers weren't supposed to sit anywhere else—but there were advantages to being the Hero and Architect of Olympus. Besides which, like all of the Gods, Dionysus was still absent, so the only one maintaining the rule was Chiron, who didn't really care where the campers sat as long as they behaved.

Percy smiled tiredly at her.

"Good morning," He said, absently playing with his food. At the beginning of each meal, every camper sacrificed a portion of their best food to their parents, but since he was on such good terms with his father and Hestia, who received a portion of each offering, he sacrificed nearly half of his meal each time. The Nymph's always gave him a lot of food anyway, so it didn't matter.

"Did you do something yesterday?" She asked, one eyebrow raised. She shot a pointed look at his fork and, receiving the wordless message, he stopped what he was doing and put it down, already done eating.

"Why? Did something happen?" He asked, all signs of sleepiness disappearing as he assumed the worst—which was usually a fairly safe assumption for him.

"No one's seen anyone from the Hermes Cabin since last night. They aren't in their Cabin or anywhere around camp and people are starting to get worried."

"And instead, you assumed it was all my fault?" He complained. Annabeth nodded immediately. "That hurts, Wise Girl—really, it does."

But then he smiled, ruining any attempt to appear angry.

"But yeah, I did do something." He admitted, standing up. "And I think I know where they are, too."

"You seem happy," Annabeth noted.

"If they're all gone, then that's probably a good sign." He stated, causing Annabeth to look at him strangely. "I was working with Conner and Travis on the Faerie problem yesterday, because I had an idea. We made some progress and I told them that they could recruit the entire Hermes Cabin if they thought they needed to."

Annabeth frowned at him for a moment before widening her eyes.

"You mean…you found a way?" She asked. "How?"

Percy shrugged, suddenly uncomfortable but not wanting to lie.

"I, ah…remembered something Luke showed me once," He said.

The 'before trying to kill him' went unsaid, but Annabeth heard it regardless—it was the type of thing that could be broadly applied to just about everything involving him and Luke.

"Oh," Annabeth said, suddenly looking awkward.

Even now, Luke was still an uncomfortable topic, not just between him and Annabeth, but throughout the whole camp. Generally, most people just avoided talking about it whenever possible. Percy didn't really care, except when talking to Annabeth, because it was always a touchy issue with her.

The rest of the trip was made in silence—and not their usual 'there's no need to say anything' silence, but an actual, awkward silence. Percy led her down to the Creek he and the twins had trained by earlier, silently deciding against saying anything about _why_ they'd chosen this spot.

And just as he'd suspected, they were there. Scattered throughout the area, standing in groups of two or three, children of Hermes were either fading in and out of existence or standing completely still in silent circles.

Travis and Conner noticed them immediately and quickly approached, skin soaked with sweat, but proud, crooked smiles on their lips.

"Percy, watch this." Conner said before they could say a word.

He and Travis both lifted a hand, holding them less than a foot apart. Immediately, their expressions shifted to ones of intense concentration—and it immediately became clear why.

It was like looking at a TV screen. At first, the space between their hands looked like static as the colors and shades of the forest became to deepen or fade randomly. Then, it began to shift and swirl with strange colors, as if trying to show something that was completely out of focus—but in seconds, the 'image' began to sharpen.

It had taken nearly twenty seconds, but between their hands, there was a window into another world.

—No.

Not a window.

Percy stretched out his hand, his fingers passing through the opening easily. There was no surface, so without a doubt, this was definitely a hole into the Nevernever. It was too small to be a gateway—yet—but that didn't matter.

Because they had done it.

Percy smiled openly at the twins.

"This morning, it was the size of a golf ball," Travis said proudly. "But we're getting better every time. All of us are. We may not be able to do it by ourselves yet, but…give us some time and we'll open a gate."

"Our fieldtrip to fairyland is a go." Conner added with a smirk.


	4. Chapter 3: In Strange Waters

**Deep as the Sea**

**In Strange Waters**

True to their word, in less than a week the twins were able to tear open a gateway large enough for grown man to walk through. While they had practiced, the other member of the Hermes Cabin had spread throughout New York City and—no longer restricted to crossing over only in locations that were already connected to specific concepts—found a path into Faerie with such ease that it left Percy feeling a bit embarrassed at having had such a hard time up to this point.

They'd decided to open the gateway in a remote part of Madison Square Garden, away from prying eyes. Anybody who saw them would probably just be blinded by the Mist—but the same would not be true of monsters. It was still daylight, so they didn't need to worry about vampires—which was _why_ they were doing it in the daylight—but they'd become quite aware that vampires were far from the only thing they needed to worry about anymore.

It was better safe than sorry.

"You're sure this is a safe place?" Annabeth asked. "Because I swear that if this thing opens up in front of some horrible monster, it's coming out of your asses."

"We're…" Conner paused, thoughtfully. "Ninety-nine…point nine percent sure this is a safe place. And if there's anything dangerous on the other side, it doesn't matter—Percy's going in first, anyway."

"Gee," Percy replied emotionlessly. "Thanks."

"Take it as a compliment, boss." Travis snickered. "We have so much faith in you that we'd charge fearlessly into a drakon's lair after you."

"Four or five minutes after you." Conner added, nodding.

Annabeth opened her mouth to ask another question, but Conner cut her off before she could ask it.

"And, yeah, we're sure it leads to Faerie." He said. "Sons of the God of Travelers, etc. We've crossed over a few times to make sure."

"Did you talk to Faeries?" Percy asked, curious as to what they were like. They _still_ didn't know for sure.

"Nope."

"Then how do you know you were in Faerie?" Percy wondered.

Travis raised an eyebrow and smiled.

"Part of traveling is reaching your destination, you know." He said.

Annabeth looked a bit frustrated at that answer, but Percy didn't really care how it worked—as long as it _did_ work. And there was only one way to know that for sure.

"You ready, boss man?" Travis asked.

"Do it." He replied, nodding.

Unlike before, Conner and Travis now stood a good three feet apart. Almost immediately, the space began to bend and distort, twisting until it had ripped open a hole between worlds. Unlike before, when it was merely a window into the Nevernever, now it stood proudly as a full-fledged door—six feet tall and wide enough for them to walk through comfortably.

Standing right in front of it, Percy glanced once at Conner and received a nod of confirmation. Assured that it was safe, he stepped through it fearlessly.

"So this is Faerie…?" Percy wondered, looking around as he stepped between worlds.

He was on a hill overlooking a forest. Above him, the stars shone fierce and bright and lights glimmered through the woods below like fireflies.

He glanced over his shoulder back through the portal.

"Did you guys check out the forest?" He asked.

"Of course not, boss," Conner said. "There are probably monsters in the forest."

"Why do you say that?"

"Because there are always monsters in forests," He said seriously.

Percy raised an eyebrow as he heard Annabeth sigh and mutter something.

"Have _you_ even been in a forest without monsters in it?" Travis asked her.

"…Actually, that's a good point." Percy said. He glanced around at the hilltop, searching carefully. "This hilltop looks safe, but this is us we're talking about. Come through and close the gate. I'll go down and check out the forest; Annabeth, you guard these two."

Not even waiting to see if his instructions were followed, he made his way down the hill, stopping only at the edge of the forest to glance back. He nodded once, caught Annabeth's eyes for a moment, and entered the forest.

Neither of them needed to speak a word to convey what they wanted to say. Maybe that was part of being boyfriend and girlfriend—or maybe that was just the result of training and fighting monsters with each other for so long. Either way, he knew she wanted him to come back safely—and she knew that he would, no matter what monsters got in his way.

But they also both knew they had jobs to do—and neither of them were very good at accepting failure. So he plunged into the darkness of the faerie woods without any hesitation and there was no need to look back anymore.

**XxXXxX**

The light faded abruptly upon entering the forest. It wasn't a gradual fading as the canopy of the trees got thinker and allowed less light through—no; he'd taken three steps in and it was dark. He couldn't even see the light from outside, even though it was only several steps back.

—If he got lost in here, it would be bad.

Frowning at the thought, he uncapped Riptide. The gently glowing bronze blade cast some much needed light on the darkness of the forest and was sharp enough to easily cut through wood besides. Lacking any magical path finding abilities like Travis and Conner, he'd just have to make due the old fashioned way.

He just hoped there were no nymphs around here to get mad at him. Frowning at that thought, he lowered his blade slightly.

Actually, he should probably just not carve anything into the trees, just to be safe; he had no idea how the faeries might respond to him carving arrows in the trees.

Glancing at the ground, he carved an arrow into it instead, pointing towards the way out. Satisfied, he continued deeper into the woods, letting the tip of Riptide's blade drag along the ground to mark the way out. The Celestial Bronze blade slide through the ground surprisingly easily, as if it were more liquid then solid.

As he walked, the firefly-like things moved around him, the only other light that he could see. They gathered together and broke apart and circled around him, becoming more and more numerous. And yet, they always stayed at a distance.

He got the unnerving feeling that they were watching him and frowned at a particularly large gathering. He tried approaching, but they just moved away in turn. He contemplated putting away his sword and seeing if he could convince any of them to approach, but decided against it. If they were what he thought they were, then he should wait until he had the others with him before approaching. His job was just to make sure things were safe.

So he decided to simply ignore them and continue into the forest. If they wanted to watch him, let them; he wasn't doing anything important and he was used to getting stared at.

But honestly, he was getting suspicious of this forest. Besides the ever watching eyes around him, he had yet to find anything or anyone. This forest was strange—the noises he'd expect from a forest were still present, but they always seemed to come from just out of sight, yet no matter how far he walked, he could never reach the sources of those sounds.

Of course, nothing said the forests in Faerie had to be like the ones on Earth. But there should have been things in it, right? Maybe not human animals, but some type of creature, surely?

Were they hiding from him?

Well, he was holding a glowing sword, he thought, glancing down at Riptide. He'd probably avoid going up to him in a dark forest, too.

Shaking his head, he decided to go a little further before turning back. So far, despite being weird, the forest seemed harmless. All they had to do was figure out how to lure out someone they could talk too, which he was sure Annabeth could do.

He took another step, walking between two trees—

And suddenly, he was out of the forest. Behind him, the two trees formed an archway, their branches intertwining above his head. Just as he hadn't been able to see the light outside when he'd first entered the forest, he'd been blind to the exit as well.

All these things, Percy realized distantly, but they barely registered to his mind. He also wondered how he'd managed to cross the entirety of the forest so quickly, but he put it out of his mind as well.

He no longer had time to worry about unimportant things.

He'd left the forest and entered a battlefield. Outside the strange woods, two armies clashed. The soldiers that composed them were outlandish and varied—some were enormous in size and some were like insects. Some were beautiful enough to mesmerize him, but the horrific ugliness of others broke the spell. There were creatures that could fly and those that swam through the river that bisected the battlefield. There were things that reminded him of creatures on Earth, of plants, and of things out of nightmares. And still more were so strange, he couldn't think of anything to compare them too.

On the battlefield outside the forest, fantasies and nightmares clashed. The only thing that stood to separate who were allies and who were enemies was the side of the battlefield one stood upon. The river that bisected it defined the sides of the battle and the areas on either side of it were like warped reflections of each other.

The side upon which he stood was grassy and full of life. In any other situation, it would have been beautiful—a pure field of scattered flowers and powerful trees. However, the grass and the flowers had been stained by multicolored fluids that he assumed to be blood, tainting their beauty. The other side was barren and dead, with nothing but gnarled, withered trees.

However, despite how they looked, they were definitely 'reflections' of each other. On the far side, behind the oncoming forces, there was an arch of twisted trees and if there had been life in them and leaves on their branches, they would have looked exactly like the one behind him. The entire line of trees, and maybe even the field itself, looked the same but for one thing.

One was in a state of life and the other of death.

Looking at it, Percy could honestly say that he had no idea what was going on.

It was obviously a battle, though that told him nothing important. A battle could occur for any of a thousand reasons and knowing that one was occurring wouldn't tell you _why_ it was occurring. Nor would it tell you whose side you were, or should, be on.

Should he even get involved at all…?

He shook himself at the thought.

It was a stupid question.

Once you were on the battlefield, it was already too late to wonder whether or not you should get involved; at best, you could consider escape but whether you were a soldier or a civilian, you were definitely involved. He'd seen enough innocent people get hurt to know that, so instead of wondering about it, he should just decide what to do, whether it was run away or get involved.

If he was with the others, he would have stood back and looked for a way out, because he couldn't risk getting them hurt.

But right now, he was alone—and he could take care of himself just fine. And whether they were human or not, he wasn't the type of person to just stand by while people were killing each other—especially since he didn't even understand why.

However, in a situation like this, it would be stupid to make important decisions like deciding whose side to join without knowing anything. He knew Annabeth well enough to know she would tell him as much if she were here.

Fortunately, that was a problem that was easily corrected. He quickly scanned the chaos of the battlefield, zeroed in on his target, and waded into the fray.

Hopefully, Annabeth wouldn't be too mad at him later.

He didn't want to throw himself into the battle just yet, because he would only draw attention to himself and get attacked—and then, when the attack inevitably broke upon him, he'd draw even more attention. Instead, he circled around the tree line, on the outskirts of the battle. Most of the fighting was centered on the river and he deduced the battle was an attempt to either keep or take control of it and this area. However, the simple truth of battle that he'd learned in Manhattan was that no matter how much a commander tries to impose order on the battlefield, it never _stayed_ orderly.

In the overall clash of the two forces, a number of smaller groups had broken off from their respective armies and scattered throughout the battlefield. Some were trying to escape or even just get to safer positions, while others were pursuing those attempting to run away. Some had probably just gotten disoriented in the sheer chaos of battle and ended up somewhere they hadn't intended to be in the constant pushing forward and falling back. Still others had probably been sent, or, perhaps, had decided themselves, to circle around behind the enemy group and attempt to attack from behind, where, naturally, others had moved to counter them.

Simply glancing at them was nowhere near enough to determine which was which, of course—he just had experience in this matter and had been taught by Chiron, who had an enormous amount of experience in the field. As such, he had to choose wisely when picking who he wanted to question. He didn't want anyone big, noticeable, or important looking. People that didn't look important had their dangers too, but going down that road would lead to the type of twisted logic that would only confuse him. He'd just have to pick someone that probably wasn't important in the overall scheme of the battle.

So he chose the tiny little pixie-thing that was being chased by a cat of some sort. Honestly, it was just stereotyping, but he had a hard time believing that screaming red sprite was someone in a leadership position and she was being chased around by a cat on the side of the field that he was pretty sure she was on, so she probably wasn't a spy…though, that _would_ make her a pretty great spy if she actually was one…

Percy halted that train of thought as well, closing the distance between himself and the two enemies in an instant. Knowing he had nothing to fear from the cat's claws, he dropped Riptide and grabbed it by the neck without fear even as his other hand caught the little pixie it had been chasing.

It was only about halfway through that that he realized how big the cat was. It was like a bobcat; maybe three feet long and two feet at the shoulder. However, it definitely wasn't a bobcat—or any normal type of cat. The structure of its skull and face were different and the feel of its fur was rougher. Its paws had too many digits and were wider then a cat's should have been, even accounting for its size.

Its eyes, a bright, alien green, narrowed.

"What are you doing, human?" It asked, speaking in understandable English, though the inflections and intonations made its voice sound strange and disturbing. "This is not a matter that concerns you."

As it spoke, it revealed its teeth, already stained with multicolored blood. The fairy in his left hand squeaked at the sight and he got the distinct impression that she knew—or had known—the people that blood had come from.

"Probably not," He said, trying to keep his tone from cooling. "But I'm getting involved anyway. I came here to speak with the fairies and this battle had gotten in the way of that—"

The moment he said the word 'fairies,' outrage had flashed through the 'cat's' eyes. Percy fell silent as it lashed out at him; its claws raking at his skin.

If he had been a normal human, or even a normal demigod, those claws would have severed the tendons in his wrist and cut deeply into the muscles of his arm, if they didn't actually reach the bone. He'd have dropped it immediately, his hand no longer able to hold anything, and he'd be in serious danger of dying of blood loss from the wound to his wrist.

As it was, they glanced harmlessly off the surface of his skin, doing nothing but making his gaze grow cold.

"This," He said. "Is why I'm a dog person."

The creature's eyes widened at its failure and before it could react in any other way, Percy's grip tightened immensely. He cut off its breath for several long seconds as it struggled, making it obvious that he could kill it.

The only thing stopping him from breaking its neck was the reasonable little voice in the back of his head that told him that killing random people in a foreign land could easily end very badly, especially if he had no idea who they were or what position they may have held in this place.

So he let go of the creature, allowing it to fall to the ground.

"Get lost." He said.

For a moment, it seemed ready to attack, but a single flexing of his fingers was enough to convince it to do as he said.

He shifted his gaze to his other hand.

His first thought was that she looked a lot like a red-haired Tinkerbelle. She was a tiny woman, maybe six inches in height, and fit completely into his hand. She was staring at him in awe, probably because of how he'd dealt with her tormentor.

He released her slowly, letting her fly a bit away from his hands, and tried to smile.

"Hey, I'm new around here," He said, trying to draw her attention away from the fact that he'd nearly strangled someone in front of her with his best I-didn't-do-anything-wrong smile. It had never worked on his mom, but the fairy seemed to buy it. "Since I saved your life, could you tell me what's going on?"

Blinking, the tiny woman glanced back at the battle which had, naturally, raged on unnoticing during everything, before looking back at him. After a moment, she seemed to decide something and nodded to herself.

"Winter and Summer are fighting again," She finally answered, in the classic tone of people who were upset about something but couldn't do anything about it.

Percy clicked his tongue, glancing at the two forces as well. Glancing once to the lively side of the river and once to the dead one, he made a guess.

"Those guys are Winter, right?" He asked, nodding to the dead side. "Then this side is Summer?"

The fairy nodded.

"Why are they fighting?"

The fairy shrugged.

"Winter and Summer are always fighting in some way," She said, as if he should know this already. "One of them probably tried to take control of the river and the other fought back."

He turned his eyes to the river at that. Various creatures were clashing in the water, trying to keep from being pushed back while also taking any chance to push forward.

"Does it matter who has the river?" He asked. The fairy immediately began to sputter. "Never mind. The river's important, then?"

"Of course it's important!" He got the feeling that the only reason the word stupid wasn't in that sentence was because he'd just saved her life. "It's the boundary line! It's contested territory!"

Percy hummed at that. So it was what separated the two countries, basically. In that case, he could see why both sides were fighting for it—if you could cross soldiers from your side into the enemies side but they couldn't do the same to you, then you had the advantage.

"Which side was that cat on?"

"The Malks are allied with Winter." She said. He assumed that the cat was one of those Malks.

"And you?"

She seemed to deflate at the question.

"I was called, so I joined Summer."

"Called…? You mean you were drafted?" He wondered, confused. When she didn't seem to understand, he rephrased it. "I mean…you aren't normally with Summer?"

She shook her head quickly.

"Wyldfae are usually only drawn when there's a war on." She said. "It hasn't really started yet, but things have been getting really bad this year. Local groups are getting called every battle."

Percy was curious what that meant, but decided to ask later. For a long moment, he pondered the battle, trying to make sense of what he knew.

Winter and Summer were at each other's throats and war was on the horizon. If it was due to stuff that happened this year, the Battle of Manhattan could be the cause—but then, so could the war with the Red Court or any number of things he didn't know about. Or, maybe it had nothing to do with anything and both countries were just pissed at each other. It didn't matter at the moment—while important, he needed to decide what to do here and now.

If he wanted to get one of the Court's support, the logical thing to do would be to aid their side in this battle, but…just like with the White Council, he didn't want to be dragged into a war unless he knew what it was about and what his chances were. Supporting either side would be a mistake, then. Logically, he should back out of things, report back Annabeth, and let Winter and Summer fight it out.

—However, he couldn't do that. Even if he didn't know the specifics, he at least understood that both sides were involving other people in this. If it was just two countries battling, he could stay out of things, but if they were making unrelated people fight for them when they obviously didn't want to, he couldn't approved, even if it would be wiser not to get involved.

Though, even if he said that, there was no real way to keep a country from drafting soldiers—especially not one in which he had no real power or pull. Even if he did something here, it probably wouldn't change anything in the grand scheme of things.

That was fine with him, though; it was okay if he could at least help people that needed him here and now.

"By the way…what's your name?" He asked.

At that, the fairy fell silent for a moment, unsure.

"I just need a name to call you by," He said, lifting an eyebrow at her hesitance.

"…Tana." She said, nodding, looking relieved for some reason.

"Well, then, Tana…I just have to make sure of something. You and others like you live here in this forest, right?"

She nodded, scattering hints of red pixie dust.

"And you don't like them fighting here, do you?"

She shook her head.

"Do the others in the forest want to fight?"

She shook her head again.

"I need to be really sure of this or I'll get into even more trouble, so I have to ask; are you sure about that?"

"Yes," She said, looking at him like he was an idiot again. "If they wanted to fight for the Courts, they wouldn't be Wyldfae to begin with."

Percy nodded at that; it made sense.

"And this area's not controlled by anyone? Nobody owns it or anything?"

"Winter and Summer won't let each other control it." She said. "That's why there are so many battles here."

"Okay then, one last question…all that matters is who has control of the river, right?" He asked, raising an eyebrow. When he received a nodded, he nodded himself. "Cool. Okay, Tana, if you want them out of here, here's what we're going to do…"

There was no question about it; Annabeth was going to _kill_ him.

**XxXXxX**

In a wave of water and force that took everyone by surprise, the river exploded. Soldiers on both sides were roughly pushed out of the river, onto their respective sides, water rushing up the river banks to throw them out of it.

Then, just as abruptly, it all flowed back into its bed. For a moment, its pristine waters bubbled and churned violently, as if the river itself had been angered. And then—

The river began to rise. It surged out of its banks, flowing up into the air and then curving back down again in a smooth arc. It stood suspended in the air, its flow unhindered—a beautiful, flowing rainbow of clear water twenty feet high.

And at the highest point of the arc, he stood, as if the water beneath his feet were as solid as stone. He wore a breastplate of glowing bronze, along with greaves of the same material, beneath which he wore an orange shirt of some kind and jeans. A four foot wide shield was bound to his left arm and he held a three foot long sword in his right hand.

"Stop," He said.

Maybe it was the glowing armor or maybe it was the lifted river, but either way, everyone stopped. Surveying them all from his position above, Percy nodded, satisfied. The river promptly fell, collapsing back into its bed with an enormous spray of water, causing everyone on both sides to take several reflexive steps back. When everyone recovered and looked back at him, he still stood neatly atop the water, not an inch of him wet.

"This battle is over," He said. "Everyone go home."

After a moment of silence, a man on Winter's side stepped forward. He wore armor of icy blue, though Percy could not tell what material it was composed of. His hair was white, his eyes catlike and green, and there was a slight point to his ears. When he opened his mouth to speak, Percy could see a sharp point to his incisors as well, and from his immediate assumption of authority, he decided he was probably either the leader of Winter's forces in this battle or some ranking officer.

"And under whose authority do you say that?" He said in a voice as cold and beautiful as ice itself.

Percy glanced at him once and narrowed his eyes.

"Under my own," He said. "This river belongs to me."

The cries of outrage were immediate and came from both sides. Percy kept his face expressionless and quickly silenced both sides by briefly sending water rushing up the banks again.

"This river is mine," He repeated once they were quiet, though he could see anger in their eyes; he knew his self-declared position wouldn't remain unchallenged for very long. "And while I do not care who crosses it, I cannot allow this battle to continue."

He brushed a hand through his raven hair, drawing away a red pixie that had been seated upon his head. Holding out his palm, he let her speak, standing atop it.

"Tell them why, Lady Tana," He said, passing the bill.

"I have been given authority over this River in my Lord's stead," She declared. Fairies could not speak lies, but it wasn't one—he _had_ given her that authority. About two minute ago with no actually basis for it, but that was a minor detail, really. "And I cannot stand by and watch this any longer! For what purpose have the Wyldfae been called? There is not yet war! You have forced us to involve ourselves in your battles, but that is not your right! Have you forgotten the agreements set down so long ago?"

Percy had no idea what she was talking about, which is why he'd let her talk instead. He could only hope _she_ knew what she was talking about, and by the way mutters began to spread through the ranks of both sides, it seemed to have at least struck a chord.

Winter's leader narrowed his eyes, a sudden flash of anger appearing before giving way to something colder.

"Your Queen's called," He said lowly. "_That_ is why you came."

Something in his tone made Tana flinch and for a moment she seemed like she wanted to run from those cold, catlike eyes. Percy noticed that and narrowed his own eyes.

"Who's Queens?" He asked, reminding Tana he was still here, backing her up. "Our Queens? Tana, do you have a Queen?"

Tana recovered after a moment and shook her head.

"I am a Wyldfae," She said quietly but firmly. "I have no Queen."

Percy swept his gaze over the gathered armies.

"And you?" He asked. "You who were called to fight in a battle that didn't involve you…do you have any Queens?"

The murmuring began to get louder and the dissension in the ranks was clear.

Percy snorted, shaking his head.

"All of you have been wrongfully forced to fight." He stated. "Tana, escort them all back to their homes."

Tana hesitated for a moment, before nodding quickly when she saw what he'd noticed. The leaders of both Winter and Summer looked angry; which was to be expected as he'd just stripped both of most of their armies in front of most of the Wyldfae in the forest, as well as the soldiers they'd brought with them, and with their numbers so reduced, both forces seemed uncertain.

Even so, as many Fae on both side broke off from their groups to follow Tana, violence was still in the air.

"Both of you have unjustly called the Wyldfae into your stupid conflict," Percy continued, even so. "And further, have lead to the deaths of many by doing so. I'm going to have to ask both of you to leave."

Summer's leader spoke up for the first time. He was a big man, nearly seven feet, and muscled like a bear. He had green hair and matching eyes, which fell down over his harsh face. Even so, he carried himself like a noble would, and seemed to be the type to get what he wanted. His armor was a shade of gentle green, marked with a symbol Percy didn't recognize.

"Even if that is true," He allowed. "You have already corrected that mistake. With all the Wyldfae removed, this is now purely a conflict between Winter and Summer. Surely you do not intend to interfere any further? You no longer have any right to get involved."

"'Purely a conflict between Winter and Summer'?" Percy repeated, shaking his head and ignoring the rest of the sentence. "You came into this forest, forced those who lived here to fight for you, and then wasted their lives on your _pointless little battle_!"

Yes, he was getting angry. He knew he should keep his emotions in check, but he couldn't help it—there was no shame or regret in the eyes of either leader.

"I told you already that this is my river," He continued. "And you should know that this area was given _life_ by this river. But you came here, spilt innocent blood on this ground _pointlessly_, and now you say I have no right to interfere? _You are only still alive because I do not wish to anger your Queens._ But you are both _mad_ if you believe I will let _either_ of you cross this river without my permission."

He took a deep breath in an attempt to calm himself.

"But, more than anything, I just want all of you out of here," He said flatly. "I don't care where you go as long as you don't trouble the people of this forest any further. And since neither of you seems ready to leave of their own free will…I see three ways to solve this. If you intend to continue, you have to make a deal with me."

Winter's leader glanced at him for a moment in interest at the prospect of a deal before anger took over again.

"Or else what?" He asked.

The river stopped flowing. It literally stopped moving at all or making any noise and, as if in response, the entire forest went abruptly silent.

Percy looked at him for a long quiet moment.

"Or else I'll be very upset," He said.

"…What are your terms?" Summer's man asked.

"I'll let you cross on one condition. Each of you may choose one—and only one—warrior on your side and we will duel. If Winter's defeats me, Winter may cross. If Summer's does, then Summer may cross. Only the first person to defeat me counts. However, if I defeat both of you, you pack up your things, you take all your men, you leave this place, and you _don't come back_."

Sumer immediately objected.

"Ridiculous! Deciding permanent usage of the River like that—the Queens will never allow it!"

"Who said anything about it being permanent?" Percy asked, raising an eyebrow. "As I said, I have no desire to anger the Queens. I just want the ones who have wronged the people in this forest gone. And you _will_ go—one way or another."

Riptide's gleam brightened at its master's threat, punctuating it, and silence again took hold.

"…Very well." Summer's leader decided. "I will fight you, then. I am Foster, commander of Summer."

Winter's leader grimaced in annoyance as Foster spoke up, but it seemed to cause him to decide something as well.

"I shall fight as well, then. I am Alston of Winter." He declared.

"Wonderful." Percy said tiredly. "Now let's get this over with."

Immediately, the river began to flow again and the current, backed up by its stillness, exploded forth, flooding the entire valley.

"—I'm Percy, by the way." He said, already moving, the only one unhindered by the water.


	5. Chapter 4: Getting Your Feet Wet

**Deep as the Sea**

**Getting Your Feet Wet**

The simple truth of battle was that no opponent was truly unbeatable. At best, there were certain opponents that you could not normally beat, but there were always ways around that. Certain weaknesses that could be exploited, circumstances that you could use to your advantage, or even the simple method of greater numbers; both Chiron and hard-won experience had taught him that no opponent was truly unstoppable.

As such, Percy wasn't arrogant enough to think that he was some special exception or that he could not be defeated. He still had his Achilles Heel to remind him of that, didn't he? And it did remind him, with a shock of near pain, every time something brushed against it. It was there as permanent proof that he was not quite beyond death's reach.

However…here, in the water, his body shielded by his curse and his only weak point further shielded by armor of Celestial Bronze, he could almost forget that. And while the river wasn't as good as salt water, he could feel it nonetheless—the power that was his birthright as the son of Poseidon, flowing into him.

The only way he could be stronger was if he were in the sea itself.

And that may have been unfair, but that was kind of the idea; this battle was on his terms and his alone, with all the odds stacked in his favor. He had only one weak point, which he'd defended as best he could, and it was in a place most wouldn't think to aim in the first place. The field of battle aided him and hindered his opponents and the extent and nature of his powers was completely unknown to his enemies.

So when he attacked Foster, it was without hesitation or fear. He had only two opponents and he could feel both of their positions in the water. Alston used a spear that was tipped with something like glowing ice and was about six feet long. Foster held a sword with a blade of four feet, which was strangely glowing as if it had been heated in a fire. As long as he paid attention to them while they were within range, he should be able to deal with them both, even at the same time.

Even so, there was a reason he'd attacked Foster first.

With extraordinary skill that even surprised Percy for moment, Foster recovered from the sudden flood, regained his balance, brought his blade to bear, and caught Riptide neatly upon it. But as someone who'd never met him before, he obviously hadn't expected Percy to have as much strength as he did and he quickly forced the blade down into the water.

The results were immediate. The moment the water met the heated blade it began to evaporate and expand to take up as much room as possible. Foster hissed as the steam touched him, but to Percy it was just another form of water—it wouldn't have caused him any harm, even without his curse.

Foster shifted, gritting his teeth. His shoulder slammed into Percy's as he grasped his blade with both hands. Percy turned his face slightly to meet his opponent's eyes, baring his teeth in challenge. As he expected, instead of taking one of the many easier ways to remove his blade, he tried to force it out of the water, insulted by Percy's apparent lack of effort in countering his strength. Percy just willed the water around Foster's blade to push it down harder in response, pushing more water towards it as it evaporated.

And as a result, the same steam that hurt Foster quickly spread throughout the clearing. Percy's will defined its limits and kept it from thinning too much and soon the fog was so thick that it was impossible to see through.

—Of course, in an area that was effectively full of water, Percy hardly needed his eyes. As Alston dove through the mist, Percy could feel the water touching the surface of his skin and his spear as an 'absence' of water. He could feel the water condense on the tip of his icy spear, feel as it was drawn back, and feel as it was thrust forward, aimed for his head.

He raised his shield with time to spare, not even bothering to look away from Foster.

The tip of Alston's spear broke against his shield, spilling some type of fluid over it. In an instant, water began to condense at a tremendous rate, drawn towards the liquid; it covered the entire surface of the shield in a sheet of ice in the blink of an eye, taking Percy by surprise.

He immediately decided Alston was the more important target. Removing Riptide and willing the water to release Foster's blade, the sudden lack of resistance caused him to stumble back a few steps.

But Percy was already in mid-turn, twisting with such force that his shield broke from Alston's spear, which immediately began to grow a new point. The motion also forced his weapon aside, however, and before he could recover, Percy brought down his blade in a bronze arc. Alston had to quickly slide back, but his movements were hindered by the water and he didn't manage to dodge completely.

Riptide drew a neat line from shoulder to hip. It wasn't deep, but he'd broken the flesh and blood that was such a light blue as to almost be clear immediately welled to the surface. Alston drew in a sudden breath and retreated several more steps.

Percy continued his turn, slamming the elbow of his shielded arm into Foster's nose, breaking it under the force of the blow. To Foster's credit, he merely grunted and took a step back; it wasn't even enough to keep him from lashing out with his blade.

Turning a bit more, Percy caught it on his shield—or rather, on the ice that covered it. It melted through the ice like butter and reduced the resulting water to steam, removing it from a most of his shield. As Percy continued his rotation, he lifted the blade up and to the side, before thrusting under both shield and blade, catching Foster in the side, piercing armor.

Coming full circle, he slid Alston's spear to the side with his shield, careful to avoid touching the tip. As Foster drew in for another attack, he caught the still-burning blade on Riptide and held off both attacks for a trembling moment, straining between them.

"Stop," He suddenly said, surprising both warriors. He glanced once at each of them and smiled. "Hammer time."

Two high-pressure torrents of water suddenly rose from beneath them, catching both Fae in the chest with enough force to make their armor groan before throwing them away in opposite directions.

Cracking his neck, Percy smirked.

"You can't touch this."

Alston recovered first, snarling. Flipping to his feet, he thrust his spear straight into the water, breaking its tip on the ground beneath. Immediately, ice began to spread until it had covered everything in a ten foot radius. Standing comfortable atop it, he seemed as at home there as Percy was in the water.

Percy glanced away from him as he heard Foster spit a word. He turned just in time to catch a sudden blast of wind on his shield which blew away both him and his mist. As he was tossed back, he heard Alston say something in turn, and as he fell into the water, he felt it suddenly get very, very cold. It froze around him trapping him in the water, as well as making a path from Alston's 'island' to where he was trapped. Not wasting a moment, Alston was already tearing across the ice, spear tip aimed for his face.

Percy knew it wouldn't kill him—but it _would_ freeze everything that wasn't already frozen. Gritting his teeth, he reached out to the yet unfrozen water.

With an effort of will, the ice holding him in place broke and he pushed against it with one hand, moving himself out of the way just in time to avoid a strike that would have ended the battle, but not quite enough to dodge it completely. The spear tip broke on the shattered ice, causing an eruption of new ice to quickly spread, but even as it did, Alston brought his spear up, tossing the last of the strange fluid at him, catching his right shoulder and freezing most of his upper arm in an instant.

Percy rolled to his feet as Alston came at him again, quickly leaning to the left to avoid a thrust at his face and then turning counter-clockwise to avoid a thrust to his chest plate. Turning the dodge into a full spin, he brought his left fist up to smash it into Alston's face before he could attack again.

Not giving him a chance to recover, he punched him again and then a third time before Alston tried a weak stab at his right side, where his sword arm had effectively been rendered useless. Percy turned clockwise, easily dodging the weak attack, and raised his shield to take him in the temple, causing Alston to shudder once before dropping his spear and going prone.

"Annoying," Percy said, smashing the edge of his shield against his frozen arm, breaking the ice before shaking the rest off. He had only a moment to wonder where Foster had gotten to before he had to dodge a thin pillar of fire ripped through the space where he'd stood.

He glanced towards Foster, who had apparently decided that long range was safer. Above each of his hands hung an orange and white sphere of perfectly controlled fire.

As he lifted both of his hands, Percy made a sharp gesture behind him and then towards the fairy warrior. As two nearly-white lances of fire burnt towards him, the river once more diverted its course, lifting in a mighty arc to rise over Percy and intercept the attacks. The flames turn an immense amount of water to steam, but not enough to stop the flow of a river—not nearly enough. Foster tried to dodge, knowing what was coming, but in the steam, Percy could feel his every move and merely shifted the water's flow accordingly.

The flow of water caught the large man in the chest and didn't even slow down, carrying him backwards into a tree. The tree groaned under the force of the river, as well as the impact of Foster's body, but it only lasted a few seconds before Percy pulled it away and returned the water to its rightful place, leaving Foster to fall to his knees and then to the ground.

As the steam spread, free of his control, Percy sighed, spun out of the way of a sudden spear thrust, before bringing Riptide down upon it, breaking the shaft right below the point. He didn't know whether Foster had recovered or if he'd been faking defeat in the first place and, in the end, it didn't really matter.

"Nice try," He said, lifting his shield one last time to smack him across the face with it.

Waiting for a moment, just in case, Percy let out a slow breath. Gesturing, he dismissed the last of the mist.

Looking at the remains of both armies, he frowned severely.

"I've won. Pack up your things and go." He said sternly. When the armies hesitated, he made the river behind him bubble furiously. "_Now_!"

At that, both groups rushed to comply, collecting their unconscious leaders and scrambling out of his sight. When the last of them was gone, he sighed again. A small red light immediately approached, circling his head.

"That was amazing Percy!" Tana gushed before settling into his hair, which she had apparently decided was her proper place.

"Thanks," He replied. "It was troublesome, but I left both of them alive, so hopefully Summer and Winter won't be too angry. But if people start giving you trouble, we should figure out a way for you to contact me."

"Of course!" Tana said, nodding eagerly. "It's our river now!"

Percy sighed a little at that, but was interrupted before he could say anything.

"W_hat the hell do you think you're doing, Seaweed Brain!?"_ Annabeth shrieked.

The sound of her voice made Percy flinch. Turning, he saw her standing by a tree. Her face was red and she was breathing hard. The twins flanked her, but they didn't seem nearly as upset; Conner mouthed something he couldn't see and gave him a thumbs up while Travis just nodded at him with a smile.

He dismissed both of them to focus on the more important issue.

"Uh…Hi, Wise Girl," He said weakly. "How long have you been here?"

"Oh, I've been here from the beginning," She said, crushing his hopes of getting off light. "I was just so unbelievably enraged that I couldn't _speak_!"

"Ah…"

**XxXXxX**

"Percy, do you remember what I told you before we came here?" Annabeth demanded.

Feeling a little bad for wrecking this area in his fight, even if it was to protect people, Percy silently ushered the water he'd thrown around back into the river. As it flowed back, he used it to pick up the remaining pieces of ice, crush them into smaller pieces so they'd melt more easily, and moved the pieces into the water.

"Um…Don't do anything stupid?" He said even as he did so.

"Yes! And what did you do the _moment_ you were out of sight?"

Percy could have argued that he hadn't done anything stupid, but even he didn't believe that.

Besides, it would have just made things worse.

"Something stupid." He replied dutifully.

"If you knew that, why did you do it!?"

Percy saw his chance and took it shamelessly.

"B-but Annabeth!" He said. "If I hadn't interfered, the Wyldfae would have gotten hurt!"

He pointed up at his head.

"Do you mean I should have let little Tana get hurt?" He asked. Tana backed him up with eyes that looked to be near tears.

Annabeth gave him a look that was bitter and made it known that she knew _exactly_ what he was trying to do, but she wasn't going to curse at him for helping innocent people. Behind Annabeth, Travis gave him a thumbs up.

He subtly shook his head. He wasn't out of the woods yet; if his girlfriend couldn't find _something_ to yell at him for when she was upset, she wasn't trying hard enough. He could think of several things off the top of his head; it really wasn't very hard.

Indeed, Annabeth recovered in an instant.

"I understand why you did what you did," She said through gritted teeth. "And I can't blame you for it. _However_, none of that changes the fact that you may have ruined things for us before they even began! Winter and Summer—"

"Were out of bounds on this one. You heard what Tana said; they were breaking agreements to draw in innocent people when they had to."

Annabeth rubbed her temples.

"Being in the wrong doesn't mean you can't be angry, Percy; you know that." She said, though Percy was a bit happy to hear that her voice was calming. "Even if they can't somehow twist the rules to screw us over—which I sincerely doubt—I'm sure there's some way they'll get back at us for this. Those guys you beat up are sure to have friends, and if they'd been put in charge in a position like this, on the border with a hostile country, those friends could easily be in very high places! What if you managed to upset Summer and Winter enough that they won't let us join the Accords! Gods, I just wanted you to go _one day_ without pissing someone off!"

"I'm sorry, Dave." Percy said, spouting off the words before thinking. "I'm afraid I can't do that."

Annabeth smacked him upside the head. It didn't hurt, but he wisely pretended it did to make her feel better.

"We may well have failed before we even began! All our plans could be ruined!"

"How often do our plans work, though?" He pointed out. "We plan, we try, and then all hell breaks loose."

"_Because of you! You! You're the reason!_" Annabeth said, grabbing the edges of his armor and shaking him.

He thought about that for a moment.

"Yeah, I guess that's true." He realized with a laugh.

"You…I…" Annabeth tried, before cutting herself off. She clinched one hand into a fist and pressing the side against her mouth. Several times, she seemed ready to say something, moving the hand away to point at him, but each time, she returned it to its previous position before she could say anything.

Percy silently walked over to her and kissed her on the cheek.

"I love you, Wise Girl." He said.

Annabeth shot him a look that contained about as much love and kindness as Peleus felt for intruders, but she didn't push him away or reject the kiss, so he figured it wasn't _that_ bad. He probably shouldn't push his luck, though.

Sadly, he knew he had to do so anyway.

"About this river," He said, and saw Annabeth's face twist in annoyance at the mere mention. "You know we can't just leave it. I can't just let the Courts walk all over the Wyldfae just because they're stronger, even if we _do_ need something from them. I just can't."

After a moment of silence, Annabeth sighed and it was like all her anger escaped with it.

"I know," She said, tiredly. "And I agree. But you realize this is going to make a lot of things more difficult for us, right?"

Percy shrugged.

'Things would be difficult.' What else was new?

"Look at the bright side, Annabeth; as long as we control the river, we have a way into both Courts." He pointed out.

"Only until someone gets upset," She said, rubbing her temples. "If we cause trouble for one of the Courts, they'll just send more forces to take it back."

"Then we just won't annoy anyone," Percy offered reasonably. "While the river is unclaimed, it's effectively a border with an actively hostile enemy nation that has to constantly be defended; but if we keep things peaceful, then both courts can move their forces somewhere else and do useful stuff. And even if someone tries to attack, we can talk to the Wyldfae in the area and everything should be fine as long as they agree to aid the side that was attacked. That should keep anyone from trying to battle in this area unless war breaks out; even if Summer and Winter are upset with us, they should be able to at least see the strategic benefit of a place like this."

"If the Wyldfae agree to that," She noted. "And if the Courts think the same way you do, then _maybe_, depending on how valuable the river is to them."

"Even if they both want the river, I think the main issue is that the possibility of their enemies controlling it scares them. Even if it would deny them access in this particular spot, I think the fact that they wouldn't need to worry about it being taken would probably make up for it."

Annabeth didn't look convinced.

"Even if that's true, we almost certainly don't know the whole story. We literally just stumbled upon this; there might be something important about this river or place that might make it important enough to want to take. Maybe it's an important strategic position or its rich in resources or maybe there's something magical about it. If so, why would they let us keep it just like that?" She argued.

"Don't worry," Percy assured her. "I have a plan!"

"Oh, _Gods_," Annabeth swore.

**XxXXxX**

Percy's solution was a simple one. Even if the area had some value that they didn't know about, it would be fine as long as it was even more valuable their way.

Of course, just changing the ownership of a river wouldn't make it more valuable. If they wanted to be worth more, then they would have to do something to it. And while there may well have been many ways to go about doing that, Percy stuck with the first ones to pop into his head. Maybe it was because he was half-human or because he was the son of one of the gods of Western Civilization, but when he thought of important places, he thought of places where lots of people gathered—villages, towns, and cities. No matter how important a river may have been, he couldn't think of any reason why it would be more important than the lives of a bunch of people, and he was the son of a God of Water.

Furthermore, it was true from a logical perspective, as well, he was pretty sure. In cities, people could set up stores and businesses where they can both buy and sell things, allowing for greater profits. Even he could understand that, just from an Economics class in school.

Granted, he had no idea what fairies used as a currency, but he couldn't think of any type of economy that would be hurt by allowing a lot of people to work and interact together; a group of people producing and consuming was kind of the _definition_ of an economy.

So that was his answer; the simple one that humanity had defaulted to since…well, he didn't know, but it'd had been a very long time.

Urbanization.

Also, if he distracted Annabeth by letting her design the buildings, he'd probably be in a lot less trouble once everything was over. Just looking at her eyes, he could tell that she was tempted, no matter how much she wanted to deny it.

Annabeth looked away; just like he could read her, she could read him, and she could tell that he knew what she was feeling. She licked her lips, shifting through possibilities quickly, before forcing herself to focus.

"We don't have the manpower," She said, trying to continue opposing the suggestion. It was obvious her heart wasn't in it, however, because her response was weak. "Who's gonna build everything? Are we gonna make the fairies do it?"

Percy knew he had the advantage and refused to fall back.

"Why not? I'm sure we can convince some of them to do it; I did kind of save them, after all, and this is for their benefit. And we have plenty of manpower—a big project like this is just what the Hephaestus Cabin's needs to get over that 'curse' of theirs. And with the war over and my dad gone with the other Gods, my brother's haven't had anything to do for months, either."

It only took a moment for Annabeth to realize what he meant and she couldn't quite keep herself from making a face.

"The Cyclopes?" She asked. "Really? Percy, this is kind of a delicate project; some of these buildings are going to be like dollhouses."

Even if she had warmed up to Tyson, Percy could tell she hadn't quite gotten over her issues with Cyclopes in general. Granted, that might have been wise; more than a few had tried to eat them.

But even so, it hurt a little to see that bias directed at his family—even if he might have agreed with it several years before.

He hid it as best he could, but could tell by Annabeth's wince and guilty expression that he didn't completely succeed.

"You'd be surprised," He said, acting like it hadn't happened. "They may not look it, but they're really good with delicate things; Tyson made me a watch, and you know how big his hands are. Plus, I'd be worried if the Wyldfae and Hephaestus Cabin didn't have some protection. With my brother's here, if something happens, they can always get big like they did against Typhon and they'll have a gang of thirty-something feet tall Cyclopes watching their backs."

Annabeth couldn't argue with that. Any lingering resentment aside, there weren't many places safer then behind a protective Cyclops; she'd been there when Tyson had taken down two bronze bulls with his bare hands and they'd each been the size of _elephants_. And that had been when Tyson had been _normal_ sized.

If Percy's family was watching over them, there wouldn't be anything to worry about, unless an army showed up.

"Okay, fine." Annabeth consented. "I'll go work on the blue prints. But you have to organize things with the Hephaestus Cabin, your family, _and_ the fairies."

Percy smiled triumphantly.

"Deal."

**XxXXxX**


	6. Chapter 5: A Changing Tide

**Deep as the Sea**

**A Changing Tide**

"Wow," Percy said, blinking. "This place has gotten big."

They'd agreed to postpone attempts to contact Summer until this project was done, for several reasons. For one, Annabeth was required for the design, which would take awhile, even if she was sure to have a few dozen blueprints that she could simply shrink down if she needed too. She'd made him agree not to go without her, because she wanted to watch his back and reminded him that diplomacy required that someone be diplomatic.

"_Can you promise me that if you go alone, you won't piss off or insult anyone?" She'd asked._

"_You know I can't promise that," He'd replied._

And secondly, on the same note, it was probably a good idea to give the Summer Queen the chance to cool off, in case she was upset about the river.

So after he'd organized everything and guided his siblings and the campers through the forest, Annabeth had told him to leave. He'd agreed, because construction wasn't something he was especially useful for—and with the Hephaestus Cabin in the Nevernever, their defenses in the mortal world had dropped all the more. He'd promised the already working Annabeth that he'd be back in a week, received a distracted grunt that he took as an 'I'll miss you' in reply, and left.

Things on the mortal side of things had been quiet. According to Nico, things were getting more serious with the War, so the vampires had apparently decided to ignore them for the time being and they'd returned the favor, still waiting for the ideal time to get involved. He'd given everyone their jobs and waited on standby in case anything important happened, but had otherwise just done his best to stay out of the way for the week before coming back.

And things around the river had changed while he was gone. Miniature buildings spread out from the river, growing away from it on both sides. The original clearing had grown quite a bit, apparently by literally pushing the forest back. The buildings were all of beautiful design—tiny buildings, mansions, and villas, of Greek, Roman, and Victorian design, somehow fitting together perfectly despite looking so different.

Yet Annabeth growled in annoyance.

"We keep having to rebuild the damn houses, or we'd be done by now." She glowered, apparently unhappy with what Percy considered amazing progress.

"What happened?" Percy said, focusing the moment she'd said rebuild. "Were there any attacks?"

Annabeth sighed, lifting one hand to rake it through her hair.

"It's not that." She said, tiredly. "The faeries keep _growing_. They're like weeds, I swear."

"What do you mean?" He asked.

"They keep getting bigger and I don't know why," She shrugged. "When I woke up the second day we were here, five of them were twice as big. I keep having to scale up the houses to accommodate them and I can't even predict who'll be the next to grow. At this rate, I'm thinking of just making a few apartments of various sizes and just letting them commission houses when they stop growing."

"That _is_ weird…have you asked them about it?"

"Of course! But they just say its normal and don't tell me why it's happening! They don't explain _anything_!"

Percy had a feeling that not knowing why they were growing bothered her more than having to redesign the houses.

"Well, I'm sure you'll figure it out," He said, smiling at her, not really bothered by the mystery. "Can I have your take on something?"

"Hm?" She voiced absently, shuffling through papers; blueprints, Percy guessed, and maybe notes. "Yeah, sure."

"Nico's caught wind of some rumors."

Annabeth stilled, before looking up at him, letting the papers fall silently to her work desk.

"Is this serious?"

"If it's true, then probably." He admitted. "Nico doesn't have anything solid yet, but he's trying to track down the source in the Underworld. I have Drew, Grover, and Thalia working topside to figure out if it's true; I figure one of them will find something out soon."

"What's the rumor?"

"The Red Court is preparing a major strike at the White Council. Bigger than anything they've done before. There's some major wizard in…uh…" He tried to remember how to pronounce the city's name. "Some Russian city. All I remember is that its name meant Archangel in English."

"Russian…" Annabeth furrowed her brow. "Oh, you mean Arkhangelsk."

"Yeah," He said. "That. They're supposedly gonna attack it. I had Conner and Travis check it out to make sure there's actually something there and they said it's like a fortress. There's a bunch of people there, too, but we're not sure how many are wizards."

"Could the Red Court destroy it, though?"

"I guess that would depend on how many of them there were," Percy shrugged. "And we don't know how many are gathered—if there is, in fact, an army. But Travis and Conner said it looked hardcore. Taking it directly sounded like it would be costly."

"Unless they have a different way of attacking, like how Kronos used the Labyrinth…" Annabeth mused.

"Yeah," Percy agreed. "I trust Travis and Conner when they say that just attacking that place would be stupid, but if they have their own way in, that wouldn't matter."

"Did you warn the Council?"

"Of course, but…well, all we could say was that there were rumors. And even if it's true that an attack is coming, I'm not sure how much they trust us. Our information's been good so far, but we haven't revealed ourselves or helped them much otherwise; I think they might believe we're trying to set them up for a trap."

"Probably. You can't expect them to jump at the messages of a hidden third party, even if we do give good advice."

Percy nodded.

"I know, but I'm not sure if they'll believe us enough to really take this seriously. If this really is as big an attack as it's being made out to be, a few cautiously shifted soldiers might not be enough to save the day."

Annabeth frowned at him, eyes calculating. A part of him wondered if she'd already realized where he was going with this.

"So I was thinking," He continued. "If this attack is real and not being exaggerated, then instead of waiting until after the White Council loses, it might be a better idea to rush in at the last minute and save the day."

Annabeth looked down at her hands and then back up at him, before humming noncommittally.

"The way I see it, it's an even better way of doing it. It gets us at least as much favor and the White Council won't be as weakened as a result."

"And you won't have to stand back and watch people die." Annabeth said, seeing right through him.

Percy didn't deny it—and he didn't look embarrassed at being caught, either.

"It's a good plan." Annabeth admitted. "But I can't say if it would work without knowing anything about who we'd be fighting. If it looks like it's possible to win, though, then I have no objections. Is the camp prepared for battle?"

"Aren't we always?" Percy asked, raising an eyebrow. "I have my brothers making sure all our equipments up to par and I have everyone running drills. By the time the Red Courts ready, we'll be ready."

"Okay," She said. "If by some miracle, nothing goes horribly wrong between now and the attack and things look okay…let's do it."

**XxXXxX**

Despite all their expectations, nothing in particular happened. The Red Court maintained its focus elsewhere and while the White Council set out some token investigators, they obviously weren't interested in looking to hard unless they had too.

The Faerie Courts had sent a number of people to look over the still unnamed city they were building and they had let them come and go freely so they'd spread the knowledge around Summer and Winter. Shortly afterwards, more faeries had begun to arrive at the city, trickling in with slowly but steadily increasing numbers. After a while, the Queens had apparently decided to just let them be for the moment and fight elsewhere.

Not wanting to tempt fate, they'd largely kept their heads down while quietly preparing for when this peace inevitable fell through. With his father's city empty of its rulers, Percy had basically assumed control as Poseidon's favorite son and moved his half-siblings up to the surface and into the camp, where they had fortified the defenses and worked on crafting more armor and weapons. Percy trusted them enough leave them unsupervised and hadn't needed to interfere except when an incident with the Camp's Bronze Dragon had nearly had the Hephaestus Cabin in a panic.

But he and his siblings had handled that easily enough. It wasn't hard, if you didn't have to fear its fire or weapons. And Tyson said they could fix the damage, too, given enough time.

After a month of nothing happening, his brother's had finished restocking the camp's armory and fortifying the defenses. After that, he'd had no real reason to say no when Annabeth had proposed letting some of the Camp members visit and get used to the faerie city. He'd even had the Demeter and Dionysus Cabins work on turning some nearby areas into farmland, figuring it would be needed if the city continued to grow.

Other than that, there wasn't much for Percy to do but wait. A part of him—well, honestly, a lot of him—wanted to just stay by Annabeth's side but…he couldn't do that.

Nico had confirmed it. The Red Court was going to attack Archangel. No exact date had been set, or at least not one that they knew of, but it was set to happen sometime in June, despite having already gathered their army. Percy wasn't sure what the Red Court was waiting that long for, but it meant that he couldn't go anywhere—part of having a reactionary plan was being ready to react.

So he'd had no choice but to standby and wait.

And it was _agonizing_.

Ever since Nico had confirmed it, he'd been high-strung and full of a nervous tension that made him just want to go out there and kick some ass. Waiting for a battle was excruciating, especially since he didn't know when it would happen.

He'd changed Capture the Flag from once a week to twice a week and now that it was June—and with Nico's reports of the dead increasing—he was seriously considering making it three times a week. The teams changed and the formations changed, but one thing always stayed the same; he always led one of the teams. With so many new camp members, he wanted to get them all used to working with him, and to see their strengths and weaknesses, too. Sometimes he participated himself, in order to get used to fighting besides everyone, but for the sake of fairness, most of the time he simply guided his team from the sidelines.

After a dozen matches like that, he'd requested the Hunters return to camp for another match, knowing Thalia couldn't turn down a straight challenge like that.

To be honest, he was getting worried about himself. About his curse. It had gotten to the point that he felt better on the battlefield then he did trying to sleep—because when he was lying in bed, all he could think about was the next battle, the next strategy and he just wanted to fight until he was too tired to think and could just drop down in exhaustion. Just being on the sidelines made him nearly ache, even if he knew why he had to.

It hadn't been like this, during those first days at Manhattan. Or, at least, it hadn't been as bad. But all he could do was hope it would pass when the battle finally came.

"Is something wrong, Percy?" Annabeth asked the moment she saw him. There was a frown on her face.

He'd asked her and the Hephaestus Cabin to return as the days of June slid slowly by, assembling the full might of the camp. It couldn't be long now, he thought.

No…that wasn't right.

It wasn't just what he thought; it was what he _hoped_.

"Nothing," He replied after a long moment.

Annabeth calmly moved in front of him and silently looked him over with considering eyes. She shook her head.

"It's not nothing," She said, matter-of-factly. "What's wrong?"

He hesitated, honestly not sure what to say.

"I'm just…anxious. About the battle, I mean." He told her, fumbling slightly for words. "This wait is killing me."

Annabeth looked at him like she didn't believe him, but she didn't say anything. She did watch him a bit more carefully, however; a nervous itch between his shoulder blades when he was leading his teams in Capture the Flag—but he just told himself it was normal for a girl to watch her boyfriend play sports and had a mental image of Annabeth as a cheerleader that made him laugh, so he just thought of it that way whenever he noticed her gaze.

But then, Nico came, walking out of the shadows in his cabin the next day, startling him. The mere sight of him made his heart pound in expectation.

"Is it—"

He couldn't even finish the sentence.

But Nico understood and nodded.

"The Red Court is attacking Arkhangelsk," He confirmed, saying the Russia word perfectly.

On June 15th, the Demigods rushed to battle.

**XxXXxX**

They reentered the world on the shores of the Northern Dvina River, leading the charge on chariots, horses, and Pegasi. The Mist's power had faded a great deal, but it was by no means gone, so they got nothing but strange glances from the mortals they'd passed by.

They probably thought they were some kind of gang, Percy thought, sighing to himself. It would have been easier if they had been able to just take cars, but things like that didn't always work properly in the Nevernever. As it was, they'd been lucky they hadn't been forced to go through a forest or up a mountain or something and had to ditch the chariots. But this was the closest place they could get to without literally popping out in the middle of the battle.

"Something wrong, big brother?" Tyson asked, hands holding the reins with an effortless ease that belied his strength. His one eye was narrowed in focus as he stared down the coast of the river. The sands of the beach didn't trouble the chariot in the slightest—but then, his brothers had built all of them. They were probably all terrain or something.

"No," He said. "Just hoping no one calls the police on us…Actually, are they called police in Russia?"

Tyson shrugged, unsure. Even if he was technically his little brother, Tyson was huge. Only about seven or eight in Cyclops Years, he towered over Percy at six foot something, even in his smaller form, and his shoulders were as broad as a house. Years of working in their father's forge had given him slabs of dull, hard muscle, making him look even bigger; he could probably have made football players and wrestlers feel insecure. With brown hair and eye to his black and green, they didn't look much like siblings, but Percy didn't really care what anyone thought; he'd stab anyone he caught picking on his little brother.

Not that he'd need too. There was a reason they were riding together—the Hero of Olympus and Poseidon's General. They were going to drive a wedge right through the Red's Army and open up a path straight through to the Tower.

Percy looked past Tyson, further down the coast. The place they were heading towards wasn't in Archangel, per se; technically it was a few miles outside the city limits, towards the White Sea. He couldn't see the tower, yet, but just being on the coast was making him feel at ease. He glanced up above him, where Will Solace rode Blackjack. He'd rather be up there then on a chariot, but the Pegasi were better used for the Archers, who could spot and take down any vampires in sight. The best shooters of the Apollo Cabin and amongst Artemis' Hunters were all in the air, except for Thalia, who was in one of the chariots behind him.

Most of said chariots were pulled by his brothers and latched to either the best horses in the Camp's stables or to some of Poseidon's own stallions. The horses that pulled their chariot had been a gift from their father before he'd gone and Percy had actually had to keep them in check to keep them from running ahead of the group. Behind the chariots rode the Party Ponies, called in by Chiron. They purposely ran just a step behind them, even though they could easily have outstripped most of them, and they'd been willing to carry some campers. Those that couldn't get a ride would remain behind for the moment, at least until they secured the position around the gate near the Tower.

"Brother!" Tyson said, his back straightening. "I see it!"

Percy nodded, leaning towards him.

_Xanthos, Balios, pull us ahead of the group._

The immortal horses of Achilles neighed in response, and suddenly it was like they were the wind from which the horses had been born. Percy had to grip the side of the chariot as he was nearly thrown out of it by the sudden increase in speed. Forcing himself upright, he narrowed his eyes against the wind, squinting at the rapidly approaching Tower.

He thought he saw a few of the vampires turn towards them in surprises, but he didn't even give them a chance to shout out a warning. Instead, he reached out with the power that was his birthright and, with a sharp tug in his gut, he drew upon the sea.

And the White Sea rose at his call.

The water rushed in as a sudden waist-deep flood with enough force to knock a grown men off their feet. The water's churned and spun quickly even as it spread out, making everyone fight to keep their footing in the raging tide.

Everyone except the Prince of the Sea.

Standing firm as the waters rushed past him, Percy inhaled deeply, smelling the salt of the sea. The water was cold, he felt in a distant way, but the temperature of water had never been something that he'd had any need to worry about. It felt good, as it always did, to be back in the sea—in salt water. As a Halfblood, he was constantly out of place in both worlds, but that feeling was far away and unimportant while he was yet in the sea.

Sadly, he hardly had time to stand around and enjoy the feeling.

He rushed towards the nearest vampire, lifting one foot out of the water as he broke into a run—but as he brought it back down, it did not sink back in, but rather pressed firmly against the surface, lifting him cleanly out of it. Atop the waves, he moved blindingly fast, his feet never leaving the surface as he skated across it, letting the water push him. He approached the vampire like a predator moving in for the kill; fearless and merciless. With their movements hindered by the water and the mud and with him holding the higher ground, there was only one way this was going to end.

Today, he'd teach the Red Court to fear the sea.

The vampire must have seen its own death coming as he neared, for it lashed out at him in a desperate swing, but without so much as a twitch or a shifting of his feet, Percy swung ninety degrees around his target, his blade flashing down like a scorpion's stinger and biting deeply into the flesh between its shoulder and neck, sinking it in until most of the blade was hidden from sight before just as quickly drawing it out. The water spun him around and he caught a set of claws along the side of his blade. Dragging it across them, he stared piteously as the severed digits fell and the creature started to scream even as he turned the blade around and swung, silencing the burgeoning cry with an arc of bronze that passed cleanly through its neck.

Immediately, his attention was somewhere else, shifting seamlessly from one target to the next. Behind the now falling corpses stood a trio of vampires that had leaned back in fear as they'd watched him slay their comrade. Lifting one foot from the water, he took a stomping step forward, sending them stumbling back off balance with a crashing wave of water even as he stepped right up to the first of them. Bringing his blade around again, he took it down with a tight left to right swing before stepping high to his left and then spinning right, taking out the remaining two in much the same way.

Pausing for a minute as the bodies fell with dull splashes, he brushed the back of his left hand across his forehead, but managed to do nothing but smear the droplets that had speckled his face. As the sound of gunshots rang out, he turned instinctively towards the source of the noise and laid his eyes on a row of vampire's with some kind of machineguns, firing at him now that he'd caught the group's attention. As he did, he also realized why the rest of the vampire's hadn't swarmed him already—they simply wanted to stay out of the line of fire. The moment the gunners fell, they'd attack en masse, he guessed.

Still, after a moment of thought, he decided the gunmen were probably the bigger threat, since they could also hit the pegasi above him once they noticed their presence. They could also hit his brother, he realized, belatedly raising a wall of water with his right hand and strengthening its hydrogen bonds—or whatever it was that Annabeth hold told him he did when he made water hard—in the hopes of providing Tyson whatever protection he could.

Though would bullets hurt him…?

Dismissing the thoughts even as they began to form, he raised his right hand, loosening the grip of his middle finger, index, and thumb from around the handle of Riptide. A massive hand of water rose behind one of the gunners, fingers curling around him in mirror to Percy's own. For a moment, he just held him, allowing the sight to distract the other gunners, lessening their fire even as it raised a series of startled cries.

And then he tightened his grip around Riptide in an instant, crushing the vampire with a series of loud, sickening snaps.

Dropping his shield, he raised both hands towards the remaining gunners, preparing to repeat the action, before pausing and lowering his hands as arrows began to fly as the pegasi got into position. Four more vampires were dropped in half as many seconds before arrow after arrow was fired into the remaining hoard.

A hoard, that, if he didn't do something, would soon charge his position and make the prospect of setting up a position here really, really difficult.

He hadn't realized he'd become the center of attention that quickly. It must be his magnetic personality, he thought.

Stomping on the water again, he felt it build beneath him before a mighty burst sent him flipping over the heads of the frontline of the vampires in into the middle of their ranks. He still didn't have a lot of experience with this skill, if only because he rarely needed it, but…

Percy took a deep breath and smiled at the wary vampire's that had turned towards him, hesitating in expectance of a trick. They were right, of course, but attacking might have been a better option.

"I'm about to rock you," He informed. "Like a Hurricane."

A part of him wondered if Annabeth had heard that—and what her reaction might have been, if she had—but the storm erupted moments later and he couldn't hear anything but the rushing of wind and water. The first time he'd done this, in the battle against Hyperion, he hadn't even known he was doing anything until halfway through the battle. It had been every bit as instinctive as that day he'd first summoned water after Clarisse dragged him into the bathroom to 'welcome' him to Camp Halfblood.

This was not like that. This time, he'd called on the storm completely of his own will and knew exactly what was happening as the miniature Hurricane tore through what little order existed in the Red Courts ranks and replaced it with the chaos of a storm. It didn't have anything close to the raw elemental might of an actual Hurricane, which could throw blades of grass through glass and tear buildings apart like paper—if it had power like that, then he would never have been able to risk using it near a populated area or his allies.

But even if it was just a shadow of the real thing, it more then served its purpose. Most of the vampires had been caught off guard by the sudden occurrence of the storm and had been thrown from their feet and sent splashing among the muddy water where they had started to scream about something—or he thought so, at least; it was hard to hear anything over the wind blowing around him. Even those that had managed to remain standing were in a bad position, between the wind, water, and shifting mud.

Percy held onto that tightness in his gut and let the storm rage for another few seconds before letting it fall away as abruptly as it had been born. In the wake of the storm, everything was silent, which put an almost nervous tension in the small of his back. On the battlefield, silence was something that seemed almost unnatural—as well as something that seemed to exist only to be broken. A multitude of stunned eyes had turned to focus on him completely as he stood atop the calming waters.

And then the moment passed. Limbs smacked loudly against the puddles and moistened earth as vampires slide upright from the dirt with the spindly grace of spiders. Amazement and awe passed out of their eyes, replaced quickly with wounded pride and anger and he knew for sure that the vampires were out for blood, pun intended.

Given all that, he probably should keep his smart-assed remarks to himself, at least until his backup arrived.

"Sup, guys. Enjoying the weather?" His mouth blathered on without consulting his brain. "Stick around; I bet you it'll get warm enough to tan once the sun rises."

Maybe they were responding politely to his suggestion in vampire language; more likely, they were describing how they would enjoy violating his corpse. Either way, they hissed at him in unison. Literally perfect unison; full-on eerie hivemind level.

Someone behind him sighed.

"Don't taut the supernatural predators, Percy," Annabeth chided.

It probably said a lot about their history that he'd managed to identify her based completely off of the sound of her sighs.

She took him by the arm and started dragging him towards the entrance to the tower.

"Come one; you've shown off enough. We have work to do." She said.

"But what about…" Percy let himself trail off as the sound reached his ears. "Ah. Okay, then."

There was the sound of something splashing quickly through water—or rather, many, many something's. Together, they were so loud as to seem to echo, drawing the attention of the Red Court immediately. Their tightly wound anger faltered into simple, staring confusion at the sight of the legion now rushing towards them.

To be fair, Percy thought, if he'd been assaulting a wizard's tower in Northern Russia, only to be interrupted by a freak with a Hurricane, followed by a stampeding army of Greeks that came out of nowhere, he'd probably be pretty surprised, too.

To their credit, they recovered quickly, quickly moving to counter the on rushing army. War cries went up on both sides as they were about to collide and even through the deafening cacophony, Percy could hear his brother's booming voice as he led the charge.

A part of Percy wanted to stay and throw himself into the thick of things alongside his brother and friends.

But they weren't here to kill some grunts. Any of the vampires they killed out here, the Red Court would replace in a few weeks at most. They were after something bigger. Now that the rest of the Camp was in position, they could focus on what was really important.

"Did you see anything from the sky?" He asked.

Annabeth nodded, never taking her eyes off the stairs.

"Something's definitely happening up there."

"What kind of something?"

High above them, a part of the tower's side exploded outward, hurling a broken, misshapen vampire out of the build and tossing it down to the earth like a comet. It impacted with enough force that he actually felt the ground shake a little as it did.

"Nevermind," He said, smiling. "Cool stuff. Got it."


	7. Chapter 6: A River's Shifting Course

**Deep as the Sea**

**A River's Shifting Course**

Percy went up first, marching up the stairs at a brisk but careful pace. Besides any vampires they might come across, this place had originally been designed as a fortress to withstand assaults—in all likelihood, there were more than a few traps and defenses set about the place to deal with unwanted intruders. If so, it was only logical to let to the mostly invulnerable guy blunder into them first, which Percy proceeded to do.

Blasts of fire, concussive force, shrapnel, bullets, alarms, things like magical mines, and much, much more—he ran into them head first, taking them so Annabeth could pass behind him. Once he'd identified the locations of the traps, he summoned some water from outside the tower and set it to scrubbing and washing fiercely on every surface, before continuing, sometimes literally lifting Annabeth over places that looked risky.

He felt pretty smart about going first within several steps up the tower. Most of the wards and defenses Conner and Travis had mentioned seemed to be down, but they hadn't been kidding when they'd called the place a fortress—the damn thing was full of traps. There were more of them than he'd expected, to be honest, especially if the Red Court had already sent a bunch of warriors inside and triggered a bunch of them already. They were luck that they'd been able to find out the basics of how magic worked, such as the way it was affected by water and fire—fire would have been better for removing traps, really, but that would also require them to light the building on fire. Still, he did his best with what he had.

When he reached the top of the tower—feeling like he'd just walked through a damn minefield after the experience—he had to pause. He'd never really seen much actual magic—not of the spell-casting variety, at least. Circe had turned him into an animal, sure, but not much beyond that, and while there were a number of Hecate cabin members at the Camp, now, they were still a fairly new addition, as a group. Having no real teachers but each other and no way of learning but trial and frequent error, they were also inexperienced, which was one of the reasons many of them had expressed interest in the White Council.

The point being, he'd never really _seen_ real magic users fight before—until today.

It was impressive, to say the least. He saw an old man, bald but for wisps of grey hair, gesture with one hand and what Percy could only assume were invisible blades started carving a vampire apart. A moment later, a gesture with his other hand seemed to erect a wall of unseen force that another vampire simply bounced off of in mid-leap. Beside him, a dark-skinned wizard snapped his fingers and the vampire simply erupted into flames.

Elsewhere, a tall, muscular wizard was holding a staff with both hands and using it like a flame thrower, spewing steady streams of fire at any vampire that came near him. By his side, an Asian-looking woman, who probably could have been someone's grandmother from how she looked, was using her finger instead, tracing patterns through the air with a narrow, painfully bright line of flame that cut through the vampires as much as it burned them. An Englishman was tossing flashes of lightning that sent spots of color racing across his vision, burning and hurling vampires unfortunate enough to be in his path. A woman who looked like she might have been from the Middle-east was fighting with water, in a way—though unlike when he used it, when she touched something with the faintly glowing orb she was sending through the air, they proceeded to melt as if they were relatives of the Wicked Witch.

All told, more than a dozen wizards were gathered there, throwing around power in amazing displays of magic.

They were also losing, though, and it was plain to see. The vampires had come prepared and while many of the minor ones were dying, they were only there to aid in exhausting the wizards. There were others, wearing strange suits of armor designed for their bat-like true forms and decorated with amulets and sashes and other things with runes carved or sown into them—leaders, nobles, and such, he assumed. When spells were set against them, the runes on their armor flared up brightly and the forces set against them seemed to dwindle greatly, forcing the wizards to fight them indirectly, hurling objects at them, casting distracting illusions, and similar things, which was probably easier said than done, given how fast the vampires could move, how keen their senses could be, and how strong they were. It must have been tiring, too, because the wizards seemed to be slowing down.

To make matters worse, the wizards weren't the only ones that could cast magic, it seemed. Several of the gathered nobles—more than half, really—were using it to some degree or another, hurling spheres of shadow, blasts of invisible, cold force, and rays of searing blood-red energy.

And, perhaps worst of all, Percy realized, they'd caught the wizards by surprise. He'd been right when he'd thought there were too many traps remaining down below and now that he thought about it, there weren't any signs of destruction or any corpses either. The wizards had been prepared for a fight where the vampires had to try and take their obscenely well defended fortress assisted by their wards and protective spells Conner and Travis had told him about—the same ones Percy suddenly realized had been absent when he'd scaled the tower. Instead, the vampires had, somehow, walked right past everything in their way and taken the fight right to the wizards in a way they'd been completely unprepared for. Something had gone wrong with this fortress' defenses.

It seemed, then, that they'd showed up just in time. Percy waited a beat until he felt Annabeth lay a hand on the middle of his back, signaling that she was ready and in position, and then he moved. He took the last few stairs in a single step and used the motion to launch himself through the air, Riptide gleaming in one hand, and he chose his target a moment before he struck, burying his blade deep into the back of one of the Nobles. Both steel and bones snapped before the blade and he felt it stab easily through the softer tissues of the heart before the resistance returned as it slid back out through the other side. The wizard's magic had no trouble effecting the unarmored and, as he'd suspected, the noble's defenses were designed to deal with that magic, rather than Celestial Bronze—in that case, it was obvious who should deal with who.

The vampire managed a shrill cry that quickly faded into silence Percy removed his blade with a sharp jerk. All the eyes in the room turned towards him and he knew without looking that Annabeth must have been sneaking into position so he kept talking.

"Don't mind me, guys," He nodded towards the other vampires. "I'm just here to save the day, be a big goddamn hero, kill the monsters, etc. You know how it is."

Credit where credit was do, the vampires didn't ask questions or waste time. They simply leapt to action, moving as if of the same mind, and a blur of motion later he was about to be surrounded. One had jumped high enough to reach the ceiling and was running along it, whilst two had rushed towards him on the ground, coming at him from both sides.

Percy prioritized, trusting Annabeth to cover his back if needed. Taking a series of quick steps forward, he met the vampire coming from his left with a swing from Riptide—but unlike the mooks he'd faced outside, this one was apparently old enough to have experience with fighting people with swords. He went down of his own will, his speed putting him into a baseball slide right past him, where suddenly he was back on his feet. Percy turned with his swing, keeping his opponent in his sights, before he had to plant his feet as the second vampire suddenly leapt towards him and hit him like a truck. Percy feet never left the ground, but it didn't matter, the vampire's momentum carried them both back into the fall. He hit it back first, before whiplash caused his head to slam back against it with a loud crack, smashing into it with enough force to kill a normal human.

Not stopping, the vampire's hands went to Percy's face in the type of smooth motion one only got with frequent practice, one grabbing his chin and the other snaking its way behind his head as it rebounded from the wall, before twisting his head at a sudden angle—and then suddenly sagging off of him.

Funny how a single variable can change the whole equation. If he'd been anyone else, the impact with the wall would have dazed him and slowed his reaction time, but he wasn't. And he'd had his own type of training.

Percy shook his head, grabbing the vampire's face with his free hand and jerking Riptide out of it as he tried to push himself from the wall—

Not even hesitating at the sight of his deceased comrade, the first vampire grabbed the edge of his armor with his left hand and held the other one open before his eyes. Light flooded his vision, burning in a dozen shades of bright, brillient red. He felt the armor on his chest literally dissolve, followed swiftly by the shirt beneath, and suddenly the floor beneath his feet was a lot less stable—more akin to fine sand then solid stone.

Off balance, he stumbled back into the wall—

Percy swore to the Gods there had been a wall there a second ago. But now, it was just open air and dust and he was hanging halfway out of the top of the tower. He caught a glimpse of the moon and stars above, as well as his fellow demigods fighting below, before reaching out on simple, human 'don't let me fall' instinct and curled his fingers around the edge of the hole in the wall. Its surface had a consistency similar to that of mud, but he managed to hold onto something more solid beneath it for long enough to pull himself forward and snatch blindly at the vampire.

He caught its collar somehow and the vampire made a startled yelping sound that Percy would have found pretty amusing if the floor hadn't chosen that moment to give way completely and he hadn't found himself suddenly falling. His sudden weight pulled the vampire off balance as he fell, the red light abruptly fading. Blinking rapidly, Percy managed to see a dark, blurred shape where he assumed the vampire to be and pulled himself up with one hand, stabbing Riptide up into its heart before he had time to think things through.

The vampire quivered for a moment, just long enough for Percy to put two and two together and realize the vampire was the only thing keeping him up.

"Damn," He sighed as the last vestige of strength went out of the vampire's body and they began to fall into the battle below.

The trip down wasn't so bad, but it never was. The part where he hit the ground was worse, even if it was more uncomfortable for him then it was painful. Worse, a moment later people began stepping on him, apparently just thinking he was another corpse from the tower, and within seconds someone was stepping on his face, someone else was on his stomach, and a third person was on his right leg in such a way that it was being pinned to the ground at an uncomfortable angle.

It got old more or less instantaneously.

"Get off me!" Percy snarled—or tried to, anyway. About halfway through the sentence, the foot on his face left and another landed on his mouth. He glared up at the offender, noting that he didn't look like anyone from the camp.

Good.

Reaching out towards the water that had spread across the battlefield until it was less than ankle deep, he drew it towards him and could feel it in a thousand tiny streams as it rushed towards him and built up around him. Less than a second later, it erupted skywards, higher than a grown man was tall, and threw the vampires clean away from him.

Lifting himself to his feet, he glanced around him, realizing he was in the middle of the vampire's ranks and had just drawn their attention. Hearing snarls, he reached back into the gathered water and set it into quickly shifting waves, sowing havoc through the ranks and giving himself a moment to think. Glancing up at the hole in the tower, he nodded once.

This wasn't something he had a whole lot of experience with and he wouldn't have tried it if he had to take any one else with him, but if he was alone…

The water gathered beneath him before exploding upwards again, this time in a massive pillar that drew more and more water from the battle beneath. At the top, half inside the water, he soared over the battle as friend and foe shouted in surprise below, hoping he'd aimed this properly.

Just a little bit off, he noted, when his head slammed hard against the edge of the hole he was using as an entrance. He'd have to find the time to practice this more at some point, but it was close enough if he was alone. Adjusting the stream, he twisted himself into the tower, landing at the edge of the hole with as much dignity as possible given the circumstances. As his foot touched the floor, things seemed to…slow wasn't the right word, but it was hard to describe. Things became clearer, coming into focus and clarity as his proximity to water boosting his already superhuman senses to even greater heights while he took in how the battle had changed.

The third vampire was dead, or at least dying. He recognized the slit in his stomach as Annabeth's work, but that didn't tell him where she was. Regardless, he trusted her and knew that due to his entrance she certainly knew where _he_ was and would be ready to back him up or get out of his way if he so needed. Shifting his attention to the other vampires and the wizards, he noticed that his return had drawn their attention again. Things had changed greatly in the short time he'd been distracted with the vampires—but in the middle of fights, things tended to do that.

With four of the nobles that had been giving the wizards so much trouble dead, their fighting spirit had apparently been renewed. The vampires had apparently expected their fellows to deal with the intruders swiftly and quickly hurry back to the battle, rather than die without even taking them down. Now the wizards were focusing their power more intelligently, rather than in what Percy now realized had been a desperate attempt to take down as many of their enemies as possible in the wake of impossible odds, now attempting to drive a wedge through the vampires and meet up with their cavalry. While still having a great deal of trouble with the magic resistant nobles, they were making significant headway now that they were all focused on a single goal, with a pair of them having drawn swords that the Noble's seemed wary of letting touch them. Things were at a turning point and it seemed to Percy that the wizards had a plan and just needed a chance to properly implement it.

Then what he needed to do was clear.

As his other foot touched the floor, he raised his hands, fingers trailing in the water up to the second knuckle. Sliding his feet across the floor with a turn of his hips, he pivoted, guiding the stream up, drawing it neatly away from his body in a gently turning arc less than two feet away from his bare chest.

And then he swung it toward the gathered vampires with all his strength. Not his physical strength, which meant nothing in this regard, but with the power that was his birthright as the son of Poseidon, the ichor in his blood that wasn't physical, wasn't visible, but was as much a part of him as his flesh, blood, and bones.

The Prince of the Sea called and the Russian waters obeyed.

It hit them faster than you could drive a car in most of America—fast enough that it would have felt like being hit by something solid, even without Percy's will hardening it. It collided with the sound of groaning metal, drowned cries, and the occasional sound of snapping bone as the vampires were thrown off their feet, sliding off their feet into the water, tumbling and rolling like they had been thrown into the washer until they hit the wall. Some tried to resist, attempting the stand fast in the way of that stream, planting their feet or even digging their claws into the stone—but it was pointless. They were insects before a water hose. Their ranks had been shattered like glass hit by a hammer and every one of them knew that the wizards wouldn't just obediently let them get organized again.

Percy kept on with the stream until he couldn't afford to flood the chamber any more without getting in the way of Annabeth or the wizards. Letting the stream die away, he stayed focused on the fallen vampires as he took brisk steps towards the gathered wizards even as he tried to regulate his breathing. He'd put a lot of power into the attack, knowing how strong the vampires were—and knowing they'd make fighting them difficult if they weren't taken out as quickly as possible. But he'd had a long day and it was probably going to get longer yet.

"Not sure who you are, but I can't say I'm not happy to see you right now," Spoke on of the men in a heavy Russian accent. He was the oldest looking member of the wizards by a quite a bit, hair and beard a solid, aged white, laugh lines and wrinkles set deep into his face and around dark brown eyes. He looked tired and now that he had a moment to look around, Percy saw more than a few corpses, not all of them vampires. He wondered how long they'd been fighting a losing battle before he and Annabeth had shown up. The rest of the wizards were approaching the fallen vampires as they tried to rise, those with the swords going first. Blades scratched small furrows in armor, but the ruins and symbols written on them erupted into bright light at the blades touch, burning away—and then the nobles started to die, as the wizards took their revenge. The screamed and they burnt and they were torn apart and he knew with certainty that this battle was all but over now.

"Name's Percy. I sent you a message about an attack, but when we realized the scale of it, I thought it best to come and help, too."

"Everyone who saves my life from a horde of ravenous vampire nobles calls me Simon," The man said, trying to smile warmly, but it came out a little grim. He cast a disdainful glance at the vampires, where several of the Nobles were attempting to put up a hopeless fight. Lifting a glowing hand, bands of sun-colored light appeared around the nobles, holding them still for a trembling moment, flickering next to the armor as the enchantments struggled against it. The vampire thrashed for a moment, before one of the men with swords slid a blade through his neck. Even that seemed to be an effort for Simon, however.

"Take it easy; you must be tired. My people and I can take it from here," Percy said, lifting a hand, pulling at the water on the floor to wield it against the few surviving vampires.

"We received your warning," Simon said, apparently ignoring his words. "But we didn't think…they were much better prepared than I could have suspected. With this tower, we should have been able to hold off an attack by ten times their number, but they passed through our defenses like they weren't even there. And that armor…it wasn't made by vampires. I could have dealt with them easily if that were the case. That's mortal magic."

Simon closed his eyes, but Percy could see what he was thinking, spelt out as if in bold in the pain on his face. Armored in mortal magic, the vampires had known exactly how to circumvent all the wizards defenses. It didn't take a genius to figure out what had probably happened.

Treachery.

"It's was fortunate that you were skilled in water magic, Percy," Simon said, opening his eyes. "Controlled physical matter proved to work best on them—water and earth magic. Sadly, neither was in great supply, here in the tower."

He glanced at the stone floor in concern. It didn't seem like it was about to collapse, but fairly large chunks of stone had been ripped out of it, so Percy wouldn't have wanted to be the guy to test it.

"Do you have any place you can go on short notice?" Percy asked, figuring they wouldn't want to stay in a partially destroyed tower that the vampires had already proven themselves able to invade.

"They're blocking the Ways so that we can't escape," The wizard snorted, glaring at the air like it was its fault. "They'll clear out soon enough, once the rest of the Council receives word of what happened, but for now, we cannot risk travelling back to our headquarters. Their power in the Nevernever is significantly greater than what they possess here."

Percy nodded in understanding.

"If you have a need, my people and I would be happy to offer you our hospitality."

He saw thoughts flow through Simon's eyes, suspicion, exhaustion, and a dozen other things that slid past too quickly to be recognized, but it was easy enough to guess his thoughts. What if this was another trick? What if we were luring them into a trap?

There's nothing like falling into a trap and nearly dying to get paranoia up and running.

But reason won out in the end. If it was a trap, why would they have warned them before hand and come to their rescue in their time of need? Why risk their lives fight against the vampires to aid them? Why go too such lengths to keep them all alive and unharmed? If they wanted the wizards alive, the vampires could have just as easily knocked them out instead of kill them.

Simon was wary—smart, really, given the circumstances—but not ruled by his emotions. He was half-expecting something to go wrong, but needed the help and knew it.

"I thank you again, for your assistance and accept your gracious offer." He said.

**XxXXxX**

Annabeth appeared out of thin air the moment everything was decided, looking for all the world the ditzy, blonde California girl who hadn't just been standing invisibly behind you ready to stab you in the back if something went wrong, don't be silly. When they got down the stairs, the battle outside was mostly over, though Greek Fire was still burning on the corpses of a number of vampires-but the vampires outside had been meant to keep a few dozen unprepared wizards from escaping, not fight a few hundred over-prepared demigods.

Even so, discretion is the better part of not waiting around for a bunch of monsters to come along and eat your face, so they left quickly. Percy could see the looks on the wizards faces as they looked the demigods over and was well aware of how strange a sight they must have made. His brother had grown to be thirty feet again and was wiping stains off of his stick—vampire stains, most likely. All around him, the other demigods were bustling about quickly, going through the motions that had been trained into them and dealing with the chaotic aftermath of battle; accounting for injuries, damaged equipment, and such. Above them, the Pegasi flew in wide, looping circles, largely untouched by the battle, but down below, the Party Ponies were being…themselves. When they saw him exit the Tower with the wizards in tow, a cheer went up throughout the strange ranks—and between the various cabins, the Party Ponies, and his brother, the cheers were as odd as the people they came from.

Even by wizard standards, it had to have been pretty strange to see and hear.

Still, if there was one thing that Percy had learned from having been kicked out of just about every school his mother could find, it was that when things looked this bad, it was best to just stay silent and not bother trying to explain your way out of it, so he nodded to his brother, Thalia, and several of the Counselors that he could see, lifted Riptide's glowing blade in acknowledgement of their victory, and then dropped his arm back to his side without a word, pretending this was all normal.

"Follow me," He said, glancing at Simon. "There's enough room for you to ride with my brother and I in our chariot and we'll get your people sorted out as quickly as we can."

Simon nodded once, eyeing his brother and the centaurs a bit strangely but otherwise taking things in stride. Percy appreciated people who could do that, because it was an unspoken rule of demigod-hood that things sound even weirder then they look and explaining things was always an exercise in embarrassment. He'd make someone else do it, if it was at all possible. Since becoming the leader of the camp, delegation was quickly becoming his new favorite word.

"Where are we heading, exactly?" Simon asked a moment after matching his pace with Percy's.

"Back home," He replied. "The Big Apple."

He turned his head to Annabeth, a sudden question occurring to him.

"Why is it called that?" He asked.

Annabeth rolled her eyes and nudged him once as a silent reminder to reign in his ADHD before speaking.

"I'll tell you later," She murmured before looking at the wizards. "Long Island, New York. I'd give you our address, but I doubt it'd mean much too you unless you lived there."

"New York," One of the wizards beside Simon repeated distractedly before nodding to himself. "I doubt that will be the first place they will look for us, so it should be safe until we can find a way back to Edinburgh. I take it you have a Way there? How sure are you of its safety? Do you know how quickly does time pass there relative to time here or how far it is relatively? "

Percy shrugged once, scrunching up his face at the questions.

"To be honest, the whole path through the Nevernever thing isn't really my area of expertise. You'll have to ask Connor or Travis about any details. I will say I trust their judgment, however—and it didn't seem to take very long and we didn't encounter any particular difficulties. After we get to New York, I'll ask them to find a Way to…"

He glanced at his girlfriend with a raised brow, not sure where Edinburgh was.

"Scotland," Annabeth replied without missing a beat.

"To Scotland," He finished, nodding in thanks. "I can't say for sure how long it will take the two of them to find you a safe Way there, though—finding paths through the Nevernever can be…well, you probably know better than I do."

"Finding paths can be a challenge at the best of times," Simon nodded in acknowledgement. "And finding _safe_ paths can be close to impossible."

Percy heard the unspoken question nodded reassuringly.

"Don't worry about that. The Twins are good at what they do and if you need, we can arrange an escort there for you as well. Once we get home, I can arrange some way for you to contact your people as well, if you need."

Simon hummed, still looking around, aged eyes sharp and steady. After a few seconds, he slowed his pace to a stop and Percy stopped as well once he realized he wasn't being followed.

"Given everything, it is most likely somewhat rude of me to ask you this, but I must admit, I'm quite a cynic these days…and I've never quite been able to stop being curious. What exactly is the motivation behind your generosity? You have my gratitude, don't get me wrong—you saved my people and I from what would have, at best, been an unpleasant and untimely demise. But you fought an army to aid us, are providing us safe travel, lending us your home, and promising use both communication with and travel back to our allies. I do not think this is a trap, because if it was I fail to see why you wouldn't have sprung it upon us already, but I can't help but think that if someone is going this far out of their way to help me, they probably have a reason for doing so."

Percy blinked once, before smiling slightly and nodding.

"Wow, you're pretty blunt. I like that." He glanced at Annabeth, who rolled her eyes and sighed, before continuing, his smile growing. "Yeah, there's a reason. Several, actually. We can talk specifics later, but for now, here's the basics. Lately, a lot of creatures have been causing trouble—not just to us, though they have been doing plenty of that, but in general—and survey says things are probably going to get worse before they get better, since that what things tend to do, though I'm kind of still kind of waiting for that 'get better' part. So we want several things, if possible. Allies, currently, since we already have plenty of enemies. A place on the Accords eventually, though that's kind of a work in progress. To protect innocent people as a sort of general thing, though it's becoming increasingly more difficult to do that, as we've recently found out. The way I see it, your Council is closest in line to what we believe in and this is a good chance to make friends with the closest thing we're probably going to get to our fellow man in this whole business."

"Also, we don't like the Red Court," Annabeth added. "We really, really don't. And if you all died, a lot of innocent people would suffer for it—well, more innocent people then are suffering already, rather."

"Gaining allies," Simon mused, nodding. "Protecting one's self and one's people. Siding with one's fellow man against monsters. I understand those reasons—approve of them even. And yet, despite you all being organized and despite possessing quite a bit of power, I have never seen or heard of any of you until today—and I make a point of knowing as much as I possibly can. I'll have to speak to the rest of the Council about you and your reasons—though given that we've suddenly found ourselves in the middle of a war and you just saved all our lives, I do not foresee much trouble in the becoming allies department—but first I have to ask you another rude question. Who are you?"

Percy opened his mouth to speak, but Annabeth caught his arm before he could say a word. She tilted her head at Simon, raised an eyebrow, and smiled.

"Why ask questions you already know the answer to?" She asked. "It's not like it's particularly subtle."

Percy suppressed a sighed, hearing the challenging tone in his girlfriend's voice. Really, he should have suspected this; it had been all but inevitable the moment she'd heard of a group of people calling themselves the Wise.

Simon snorted a brief laugh.

"A thirty-foot Cyclops, a flock of Pegasi, a horde of Centaurs, and an army riding in gleaming chariots. No, I suppose it's not. You're Greek, of course." He stated, before lifting an equally challenging eyebrow. "Though since you live in New York, perhaps you're only half?"

This time, he couldn't swallow the sigh. It seems the wizards wouldn't be much better.

Annabeth nudged him again, but she was smiling.

"Just so. I'm Annabeth," She reintroduced herself. "Daughter of Athena. This is my boyfriend Percy, the son of Poseidon."

"Demigods," Simon's smile widened as he cast a casual glance around. "Somehow we missed an entire army of demigods. Oh, but I can't wait to see the look on Martha's face."


	8. Chapter 7: Magic Streams

**Deep as the Sea**

**Magic Streams**

"Welcome to our home," Percy said, rising from his seat in the chariot and extending a hand to help Simon up. The trip back home hadn't posed any trouble, though whether that was because of Conner and Travis's skill at finding safe ways or just because nothing wanted to mess with an army of demigods and a bunch of cranky wizards was up for debate.

Simon took his hand and rose to his feet, not bothering to try and hide the interest in his eyes. He glanced from Peleus' slumbering form to the Golden Fleece in Thalia's old tree, probably recognizing it for what it was. Percy led him quickly past it, over the boundary into the Camp.

"If you'd like to join us, we're going to eat in the dining pavilion now. I don't know about you, but I'm starving," He continued.

"As am I," Simon admitted, sighing. "Sadly, duty requires me to work, first. If possible, could you arrange a way for me to contact my allies? There's no need for any of my friends to wait in hunger, however, and I would appreciate it if you would let them eat."

"Sure," Percy shrugged, nodding at Annabeth when she glanced at him. She walked away, off to get something to eat, the other wizards trailing behind her after Simon gave a nod of his own. "We can use my fountain, I guess. The Cabins are this way."

**XxXXxX**

"Twenty Cabins," Simon mused, drawing him from his thoughts. Until then, the wizard had been quietly taking everything in, attentive eyes taking note of anything that seemed important, so Percy paid attention when he heard his voice and looked around.

"There used to be twelve of them," He said, realizing what he was being asked and explaining the admittedly strange looking Cabins. "But that changed last August. Now all the Major and Minor Gods have cabins. We're still building some and accounting for everyone, but at the moment there are twenty, with Zeus being the first and Hecate being the last. I live in Cabin Three."

He gestured vaguely towards the long, low grey stone Cabin that he lived in as he led the wizard towards it.

"Once everyone's done eating, we'll get living arrangements sorted out. Usually, travelers stay in the Hermes Cabin, but if you'd prefer you can stay with my brothers and I. I'm sure Lou would be quick to offer you a place in Hecate's Cabin as well, and plenty of the others probably would too. Anyway, in here."

He led him inside and to the fountain his father had given him years ago, reaching into the water and fishing out a drachma before flipping it towards Simon. The wizard caught it and frowned down at it for a moment.

"Is this…"

"Gold? Yeah. The Gods refuse to use anything less valuable than gold as currency, so you need it if you're going to ask Iris for help."

"Ah," Simon nodded, as if this was completely normal. "How exactly do I go about doing that, if I might ask?"

Percy gestured towards the fountain, where a rainbow had formed the moment he'd drawn a coin.

"Toss the drachma into the rainbow and say 'Oh Iris, goddess of the rainbow, please accept my offering.' Then just say the name of whoever you're trying to call and wave your hand through the rainbow when you're done."

Simon turned the gold piece in his hands, still frowning.

"Are you certain? I may need to make more than one call, depending on who I am able to contact."

"There are plenty of drachma in the fountain, if you need them," Percy said, turning back to the door and walking out. "It's not a big deal. Anyway, there's probably a lot of stuff you want to say that you probably shouldn't talk about in front of me, so I'll just wait outside until you're done. Don't take too long, though, or we'll miss supper."

Outside, he sighed. The closing of that door seemed to make it official somehow; they'd won, they'd succeeded, and they'd returned alive and victorious. He could relax, now, but mainly he just wanted to eat and sleep.

But alone by the cabins as he was, he couldn't help but glance sadly to the bonfire in the center, where Hestia was absent. At times like this, he wouldn't have minded speaking to her—she probably could have given him some good advice.

Moving towards it, he took the goddess's place by the fire in her stead, tending to it as best he could with his bare, unburning hands. Gazing into the flames, he couldn't help but think that this was it; they'd reached the turning point. Things were going to start moving soon and there was no way of stopping them now—no turning back anymore. They'd publically, officially sided with the White Council and, by interrupting such an important mission, delivered the Red Court a strategic blow that would paint targets all over them. The Red Court had temporarily ignored them as a lesser issue compared to the White Council, but that was sure to change now. The Camp would be targeting, now, and while he wasn't that worried about it given its protections, anyone who was outside the camp or left it would be in even more danger then before.

Siding with the White Council was the right move, he felt. But at the same time, things were different now then they'd been before; harder. Risking his life didn't scare him much anymore—or rather, it did, but he was just so used to doing it now that he hardly noticed. But being responsible for the lives of others? Having his friends live or die by his decisions? That was different.

A part of him wanted to rush out into battle and crush the monsters that threatened people, but at the same time, another part wanted to draw everyone to the camp and have his brothers turn it into a fortress to keep his friends out of danger. There was no prophecy this time, as near as he could tell. There was no hand of fate guiding him, seeing to it that all the pieces fell as they were intended, whether that was for or against him. It was just them—he, his friends, and any choices or mistakes that they made.

This war was the right choice, he was sure about that. But he wasn't naïve enough not to realize that people would die because of his decisions. Friends of his would be killed while they tried to perform the orders he'd given them.

He frowned, shifting a log in the fire.

Being a leader was hard.

He looked up as the doors to his Cabin opened.

"Did your message get through okay?" He asked, drawing his hand out of the flames and brushing the ashes off on the torn remnants of his shirt.

"Perfectly. Thank you again for your aid." Simon said, nodding lightly in his direction. "I had no difficulties contacting Arthur and once I assured him of my identity we discussed what has happened thus far."

Simon hesitated for a moment.

"He's interested in meeting you, as well," Simon continued. "He wants to meet with you and discuss your proposals."

That was good. Probably.

"I'll go with you back to Edinburgh, then," Percy said.

"Ah…about that. I do not wish to impose, but if possible I would like to stay here for…" Simon pursed his lips, glancing up at the darkened sky. "A day? The White Council plans to host a meet to discuss the war in the next couple of days and the Merlin wishes to speak to you before the meeting begins and have you stand amongst our allies during the meeting itself. If possible, it would be best if we travelled together, so that none of the Wardens mistake you for a threat."

Percy tilted his head to the side and nodded.

"That's not a problem. We intended to let you stay until we found a Way to Edinburgh for you, so staying for just a day is less than I expected. Where's this meeting, then?"

"In Chicago."

**XxXXxX**

Chicago was about a million degrees that summer and they were waiting on the pavement for the wizards to arrive. Getting to Chicago had been easy—while Edinburgh had been a place that they'd previously marked under 'And we would go there why?' it wasn't unusual for demigod quests to take them all across the country—and given that the camp was still in a state of scrambling around and figuring out what they didn't know but probably should, large groups of them were now travelling from place to place, something that was dangerous for demigods at the best of times.

In case it actually needed to be said, this was not the best of times. Certainly, they'd had worse days—in fact, Chiron had become somewhat depressed thinking about how many worse days the Camp had had—but things weren't good by any stretch of the imagination. So in a move that even Annabeth had applauded, the Hermes Cabin had taken it upon themselves to search out pathways to most of the major cities and important areas in America. It was still a work in progress, to be sure, for they had to find not only Ways, but ones that could be travelled safely, in short times relative to Earth, and which could be relied upon not to suddenly change.

There were a lot of areas that needed to be mapped out, but the Hermes Cabin had been working down the list of the largest cities in the country and after New York, which served as their starting point, they'd found paths to Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, and Philadelphia, and several were testing the path to Phoenix to make sure it was safe to travel. If nothing went horrible wrong—which Percy had a hard time imagining, given their line of work, though maybe it was just that he, personally, had horrible luck—Travis and Conner said they thought they'd be able to map out routes to the top fifty cities in America by the end of the year.

He had to say, he was definitely looking forward to not getting chased halfway across the continent every time something important was going on. This whole 'safe travel' thing was an incredibly novel concept and one with which he would be happy to grow more familiar with. The Hermes Cabin was more than pulling their weight in all this—he was going to have to think of something nice he could do for them at some point.

None of which changed the fact that it was hot out here and that they'd been waiting for nearly half an hour, due to the Way to Chicago having proven especially quick. He was doing the best out of the group due to being able to ignore the humidity, but ADHD demigods and long waits in the heat didn't mix well, period.

"Simon, how is this supposed to work exactly?" Annabeth asked, sweating heavily but not seeming particularly bothered by it. It must have been a California girl thing.

Simon wiped his brow with a handkerchief. He was dressed in his heavy black robes, which Percy imagined must have sucked, but he bore it without complaint.

"The Wardens will arrive first and make sure the area is clear before giving the go-ahead to the others. After that, everyone else will gradually trickle in, depending on how cooperative the designated Ways allow. Well, not _everyone_." He amended. "There will be many wizards who can't attend, for whatever reason, ranging from simply not caring to life-threatening events. But the majority of the Council will attend and the Wardens and Senior Council will discuss the situation and inform everyone of what they should do for the time being. Should anything come up that requires it, there will be a simple, majority rules vote, unless three members of the Senior Council move to make it a closed vote, in which case the seven Senior Council members will decide instead. It's relatively rare for that to happen in peace times, but most of the Council are not trained to do battle or wage war, so it's not uncommon for such votes to be called when swift action is needed or panicked decisions must be avoided."

Simon shrugged and Percy couldn't help but wonder how many such wars had occurred without them knowing.

"Near the end of the meeting, representatives from allied groups will stand and confirm that they will give their aid to the Council as a whole." The wizard continued. "All meetings are conducted in Latin, as it's a dead language and equally a pain in the ass for everyone involved to learn, regardless of their country of origin, or at least that's the explanation for it now. Originally, it was probably just spoken because the White Council had its roots in the Roman Empire, but it serves its purpose well enough nowadays, I suppose, and doesn't favor or discriminate against anyone in particular. Regardless, I will be sitting with the rest of the Senior Council, but I will have someone translate for you during the meeting."

"That's all we need to do, then?" Percy asked. "Sit through the meeting and say we'll help out at the end? I figured we'd probably have to give some kind of speech or explanation or something."

"You'll realize this quickly regardless, so I may as well state it outright." Simon said, turning to face him. "We're wizards. We never explain anything."

"Like Mary Poppins?" He said, before pausing as he wondered if Simon would get that reference. The wizard nodded without skipping a beat, however.

"Yes, precisely. In all likelihood, the Merlin will wish to speak with you prior to the meeting to get an explanation and a feel for you—after that, I imagine that any information would be granted on a need-to-know basis to ensure your security, keep you hidden so that you can retain the element of surprise, and to satisfy our wizardly desire to keep secrets. The Senior Council will know everything before the day is out and select members of the Council and the Wardens will also be told; the one's that will most likely work closely with you, who will inform their associates and subordinates as it becomes necessary. Knowledge is power and all that."

"The Merlin being the leader of the Council as a whole," Annabeth stated more than guessed. "What will he want to talk to us about?"

Simon made an expression somewhere between a smile and a scowl, but before he could reply, a voice interrupted.

"Many things," said the man who'd appeared out of midair. His hair and beard were long, white, and well kept; his eyes bright blue and alert. He wore formal robes of midnight black and a stole of purple, decorated with symbols and medals signifying who-knows-what. He looked, Percy thought, exactly like he imagined a wizard would. "Given the circumstances, I would say we have much to discuss—and I think we can all agree that it would be best to act quickly."

The man, who could only be the Merlin, looked calmly at Simon.

"I hope you haven't told them anything too awful about me, Simon."

"Of course not, Arthur," Simon replied inclining his head in a brief nod. "I was just about to discuss the good old days."

"Then I arrived just in time. If I may steal them away from you for a moment, Simon?"

**XxXXxX**

"I suppose the first thing I must do is express my gratitude," The Merlin began. They'd gone inside, which meant they were out of the sun, but none of the air conditioners were on due to how wizards tended to mess up technology, so it was still kind of miserable. "If not for your timely intervention, many great wizards would now be lost to us."

He inclined his head toward Simon, who nodded shallowly in return.

"You'll be happy to know that the rest of the Brute Squad is largely intact," He told his fellow wizard. "They were forced away from your tower by a sudden invasion by the Red Court, but weren't caught completely by surprise thanks to the information we received prior—another thing I believe we have our guests to thank for. They were forced to retreat towards Edinburgh when it became obvious that fighting their way back to you was unfeasible and arrived shortly thereafter, though the Red Court harried them all the way to our gates. I must admit, when we first heard how many had come for you, we'd feared the worst, but we did not even have time to formulate an appropriate counter before you contacted us. I must admit, the method you used was quite intriguing. If possible, I would like to speak to you about it when possible."

"I'm sure Annabeth would be happy to explain it to you," Percy replied, sliding cleanly out from under the responsibility before it had a chance to settle upon his shoulders.

Annabeth rolled her eyes, but nodded.

"It can be an expensive way to communicate, but often worth it as well. If it would help you, we would be happy to share the method." She replied.

"Then you have my thanks once more. Sadly, the time before the meeting is short, so it shall have to wait. It is my understanding that you are the leader of your group?" He asked, returning his attention to Percy.

"Yeah, at least during times like this," Percy nodded, feeling somewhat surprised at how used to the position he was starting to get. "This is Annabeth, my second in command."

Well, technically, no one had given her that position—but really, it's because no one had bothered. Everyone had pretty much assumed she'd be his second in command, including him, and she'd stepped into the role without having to be asked.

"As you are likely aware, I serve as the leader of the Senior Council in my role as the Merlin. If possible, I would like your permission to forgo pleasantries and speak frankly to you, as one leader to another."

Percy sat up straighter in his chair, knowing that this was important. This would be the first time he'd really acted as the leader of the camp in a political situation, rather than a military one.

Which was to say, the stakes were the same, but it was a field of battle he had no experience in. Thank God Annabeth was here.

"Of course," He said.

"Simon has informed me somewhat of your goals and as such I feel it is only proper to tell you of my own. I'm aware that you may not agree with them, but I would like you to hear them from my own mouth, rather than from someone else's, and I would like a chance to explain my reasons." He paused for a moment, whether for dramatic effect or to give either of them a chance to interrupt. Either way, they said nothing and he continued on a moment later. "If at all possible, I intend to pursue peaceful negotiations with the Red Court."

Percy's eyebrows lifted high at those words and even Annabeth blinked a few times, though that was the only indication of her surprise. But Simon just closed his eyes and sighed.

"Um…I have to be honest; I'm pretty new at this and there's a lot I don't understand. But…they just tried to kill Simon and a lot of other wizards. Is pursuing peace really the best choice?"

"Oh, of course not; a peaceful negotiation is hardly ideal." The Merlin calmly shook his head. "I have hundreds of years of experience with the Red Court and I've seen first-hand the horrors they've inflicted upon humanity. They are monsters, responsible for the deaths of countless innocent lives—in theory, the _ideal_ solution would be to wipe every last one of them from the face of the Earth. Sadly, there is often a difference between the ideal and the actual and such a solution…I would not say it's impossible, for it quite possible. But a number of factors keep it from truly being a feasible solution."

"What do you mean?" Percy asked, honestly confused.

"I firmly believe the White Council is more powerful than the Red Court. Should it come to an all-out war, I believe we shall triumph in the end. But it would not be an easy fight, by any means. It will require great effort and focus and even then, heavy losses are inevitable. Tell me, how much experience do you have with fighting the monsters that harass mankind?"

"A lot," He replied immediately.

"Then perhaps you can understand what a battle of attrition can be like against them."

Percy paused at that—because, yes, he _could_ understand. How many times in the war had he killed a monster, only for it to come back? Sometimes in a week, sometimes in a month, sometimes it took years, but so many had returned and had to be fought again. That's just the way monsters were; they always, always came back.

But demigods didn't. All the friends he'd lost—they stayed dead. They'd won in the end, but their losses had been actual losses; on the other hand, he was certain he'd probably find himself face to face with the Minotaur again, some day.

"Yeah, I can," He said quietly. "It wasn't fun."

"No," The Merlin agreed. "I rather think not. The Red Court is worse than most; if it comes to a war, casualties would be heavy, and not just on the Council. As the tide turned against them, they would undoubtedly begin to draft more allies from the mortal population, which would result in merely thousands of deaths if we were lucky. They breed quickly, birthing new members in mere days and training them in short order, whereas teaching a wizard to control his powers takes years. A battle against them would be drawn out and gruesome, most likely leaving hundreds of wizards dead. But even so, I believe we could do it. But it would be a Pyrrhic Victory."

"How so?" Annabeth asked and Percy could all but here gears turning in her head as she weighed the options and compared the numbers.

"A part of it would be the casualties of the war, of course. Another part would be all those people that would be left to die while the Council's limited numbers are drawn away from protecting people and monitoring areas of the world to take part in the War—something which, no doubt, many creatures will quickly take advantage of. But the biggest reason is because of what would come after. In my role as the leader of the Council, it is my responsibility to look not only at problems, but beyond them—to not only come up with a solution, but to see how that solution would affect things and if it would create new problems. The Red Court is…massive. It is a nation, unto itself. They all but control South and Central America, with holdings all over the rest of the world. They hold power in the mortal world as well as the supernatural one—property, stocks, entire corporations, and more. More than a few members hold positions of political or economic power. If we successfully destroy them…the consequences would be dire."

"You're talking about a vacuum of power," Annabeth said, realization filling her eyes as the last piece of the puzzle snapped into place. "If the Red Court disappeared, it would be like an open invitation for everyone else. Nature abhors a vacuum and something would try to fill it."

The Merlin nodded.

"The Red Court, for all its horrors, serves at least one use—it defends its territory and fights against any new party that seeks to gain a foothold in the mortal world. Its motivations are purely selfish, but if it suddenly disappeared, there would be an entire continent left reeling in its wake and free for a thousand creatures to come rushing in. Small groups will try to horde power and set the foundations of empires, larger groups would shift their attention to seek out the Red's holdings. The areas they leave behind will be open to yet more newcomers and as the larger groups come in contact, they will fight over power and humans will suffer in the process—as food, slaves, recruits, or what have you. The Council will need to respond to protect them."

Even Percy could see where this was going.

"You mean another War," He said. "As soon as the fights with the Reds end, another one will begin."

"Precisely. More battles, more casualties—the time it takes to train wizards means we won't have time to replenish our ranks and each battle will reduce our numbers more and more. We'll be whittled away, piece by piece, until there is nothing left. The truth is, the White Council is limited. We are powerful, but there are so few of us in the grand scheme of things, whereas our enemies are beyond counting. We can win against one of them, but what does it matter when there are a hundred others waiting in the wings? At the end of the day, what we are, what keeps Mankind safe, is a threat—we're a gun with an unknown number of bullets. Everyone knows that we cannot fight every monster. Everyone knows that if they ganged up against us, we would quickly fall. But we could take at least some of them with us, and so they hesitate to be the one to go first. And as long as no one knows _how_ many bullets are in that gun, we can hold on that threat alone—but once we start firing, everyone knows it's just a matter of time before we click empty."

Percy didn't know what to say to that. He'd never had the entire story spelled out for him quite like that. Was this why their parents had hid them away? Was this why they'd never seen all these monsters before?

"I tell you this, because you and I are in the same situation—leaders of groups that exist to protect Mankind. And yet, the eternal conundrum we face is this: We will protect no one if we are dead. So I will try to resolve things peacefully, if I can, even if I hate vampires with every fiber of my being. Even if it means putting up with them, I must do what I feel will save the most lives in the long run, even if it requires me to do things I once never thought I would have to do."

So spoke the Merlin, leader of the White Council of Wizards.

"Then what is the plan?" Percy asked. He wasn't happy with the knowledge that he might have to stand by and let monsters do as they please—but he didn't think the Merlin was particularly pleased by it either. It didn't really make a difference in the end, he supposed.

"Envoys have already been sent to the Red Court and will be returning to attend the meeting. They will present the Red Court's initial terms and the Council will vote on the matter. If needed, we will send a counteroffer to them and they will likely deliberate over it before sending another one back to us. If possible, we will come to a compromise."

"And if not?" Annabeth asked.

The Merlin sighed.

"And if not…we will fight," He said. "I deeply wish to avoid that, but it may not be possible. If it does happen, we will simply have to try and find a way to survive what is to come. In any case, it is in our best interests to prolong negotiations for as long as possible to give ourselves time to prepare."

"Won't that just give them more time to get ready as well?" Percy asked.

"Yes—but no one benefits from having extra time as much as wizards, I assure you." The wizard replied, nodding towards Simon. "After this meeting, we'll begin Thaumaturgic preparations to counter the vampires. Of course, they know that as well as well do, so I suspect we will only have a short time to try and settle things. Beyond that, we have also sent envoys to the Winter and Summer Courts, in the hopes of securing permission to pass through their territories. If we can gain at least that much, we should be able to counter the Red Courts mobility and convince them a peaceful resolution is in their best interests—and, failing that, it will be of enormous benefit in battle."

"We can aid you with that," Annabeth said, not missing a beat. "Simon can confirm that the Children of Hermes have a knack for finding safe Ways through the Nevernever—it may take some time, but we can find paths for you to, at the very least, any important locations. If nothing else, we were originally searching for a safe Way from our home to Edinburgh, so that we could get Simon back to you; I'll have the Hermes Cabin continue to look for one and then you can use our base as a nexus point to make use of all the Ways we have found. We've primarily searched for Ways to other places in the Country, but we can broaden the search if it would help you."

The Merlin smiled and nodded.

"That would be most helpful indeed." He glanced at Simon again. "If you would be willing to stay nearby for a day or two, I will speak to the rest of Senior Council and the Wardens present and put together a list of major positions we would need Ways to and from. Even if we manage to secure an alliance with the Faerie Courts…well, they wouldn't agree to pact they couldn't worm their way out of if need be and it would be reassuring not to be forced to rely solely on their good will."

"We can probably help with that, too," Percy said. "We haven't managed to contact anyone major in either Court—but if you can arrange for that, we can throw our lot in with yours, though. If your envoys can't convince them, it might help if we spoke to them, too."

The Merlin seemed to muse over that for a moment before nodding.

"If it comes to that, it would be most helpful. Before you meet with any of the Fae, however, I would recommend speaking to several of our resident experts on the subject. The Fae cannot lie, but it hasn't hindered their ability to deceive and I think you would find it helpful to receive some advice on what to look out for before attempting any negotiations, lest you find yourself wrapped up in a bargain you come to regret. If our envoys fail, I'll arrange for several of them to meet with you."

"Travis and Conner are coming back after the meeting, right?" Percy asked Annabeth.

She nodded.

"I'll speak to them about it—I imagine it would help to tell the entire Hermes Cabin about it before they get themselves hurt and we'll take the Twins along on any negotiations, besides." She replied. She turned back to the Merlin before continuing. "Travis and Conner are in charge of the Hermes Cabin, so they'll be the one looking for Ways through the Nevernever."

"Once we arrange for a proper Way between our respective headquarters, we'll both be able to benefit from each other's established Ways. For the time being, we can make due by using the Way you took to bring Simon here and the one I took to travel from Edinburgh, though that Way can be a bit…tricky, at times. When your companions arrive, I shall give them the details." The Merlin returned, one hand stroking his beard as he mulled over the situation. Both his and Annabeth's eyes seemed bright as they considered the possibilities.

"Once we establish a safe Way, we can determine how else we can aid each other. Percy's siblings are the Cyclopes, who are exceptionally skilled at building just about anything, for example, as are Hephaestus's children. The Camp could always use some additional defenses, as well."

"If its wards you need, I would be happy assist you; I happen to have some small measure of skill in the art," The Merlin said with modesty that his expression revealed was probably false. "It shall have to wait until after the meeting, however—at which point I imagine we will have a great deal to discuss. For the time being, let us go; have you arranged for a translator for our guests, Simon?"

"I intended to ask Warden Marcus to do it; he has enough experience at it," Simon replied, smiling at some inside joke. The Merlin inclined his head.

"Very well. I shall show you to your places and Warden Marcus shall be with you shortly." He told them. "Will you be joining us Simon?"

Simon shook his head.

"I'll be along shortly; our mutual friend asked to speak to me."

The edges of the Merlin's lips bobbed downward for just a moment before he nodded.

"Of course." He said coolly. "This way, my friends."


End file.
